Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
In its return to the O2 Arena in London, The UFC delivered a decent pay-per-view event with UFC 286 this past Saturday. Welterweight champion Leon Edwards was successful in his first defense, fending off a familiar foe in Kamaru Usman in their third (and potentially final) fight. Justin Gaethje was involved in another exciting war with Rafael Fiziev. And there were some great finishes from Gunnar Nelson, Yanal Ashmouz and Jake Hadley. With that event now over, let’s take a look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.
The UFC either announced or finalized nine fights this week, and a pair of flyweight contenders are set for a Summer clash.
Kai Kara-France has his next UFC assignment set. The City Kickboxing product has drawn Amir Albazi in his much-anticipated return to the Octagon.
Recently, ‘Don’t Blink’ had a three-fight win streak snapped at UFC 277, where he was finished by Brandon Moreno in a fight for the interim flyweight championship. Meanwhile, the ‘Prince’ extended his win streak to five with a third-round KO of Alessandro Costa at UFC Vegas 66 in December.
UFC San Antonio — March 25
- Nate Landwehr vs. Austin Lingo — featherweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
UFC Vegas 71 — April 22
- Jeremiah Wells vs. Matthew Semelsberger — welterweight (First rep. by Wells on Instagram)
- Iasmin Lucindo vs. Brogan Walker — women’s strawweight (First rep. by MMA Melotto on Twitter)
UFC Fight Night — June 3
- Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi — flyweight (First rep. by Albazi on Twitter)
- Tim Elliott vs. Allan Nascimento — flyweight (First rep. by Diego Ribas of Ag Fight)
UFC 288 — May 6
- Drew Dober vs. Matt Frevola — lightweight (First rep. by Frevola on Instagram)
UFC Fight Night — May 20
- Maheshate vs. Viacheslav Borshchev — lightweight (First rep. by Chris Presnell on Twitter)
UFC 289 — June 10
- Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Miranda Maverick — women’s flyweight (First rep. by Maverick on Instagram)
- Eryk Anders vs. Marc-André Barriault — middleweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 294 — April 21
- Levan Chokheli vs. Michael Lombardo — welterweight
- Tyrell Fortune vs. Sergei Bilostennyi — heavyweight
- Alex Polizzi vs. Karl Moore — light heavyweight (First rep. by Seán Sheehan of Severe MMA)
- Cris Lencioni vs. Blake Smith — featherweight
- Anthony Adams vs. Sharaf Davlatmurodov — middleweight
Bellator 295 — April 22
- Aaron Pico vs. Otto Rodrigues — featherweight (First rep. by Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie)
- Mads Burnell vs. Justin Gonzales — featherweight (First rep. by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting)
- Ilara Joanne vs. Bruna Ellen — women’s flyweight
- Alexey Shurkevich vs. Masayuki Kikuiri — welterweight
Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:
PFL Newcastle (2023 Regular Season) — March 25
- Riccardo Nosiglia vs. Jakob Nedoh — light heavyweight
- Abdellah Er-Ramy vs. Madalin Pirvulescu — light heavyweight
Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:
PFL 1 (2023 Regular Season) — April 1
- Krzysztof Jotko vs. Will Fleury — light heavyweight
- Jo Sungbin vs. Jesus Pinedo — featherweight
- Delan Monte vs. Ty Flores — light heavyweight
- Cory Hendricks vs. Impa Kasanganay — light heavyweight
Announced Invicta FC fights:
Invicta FC 53 — May 3
- Jillian DeCoursey vs. Rayanne Amanda Dos Santos — women’s atomweight
- Jéssica Delboni vs. Danielle Taylor — women’s strawweight
- Monique Adriane vs. Nicole Geraldo — women’s strawweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 151 — March 24
- Matty Byfield vs. Prince McLean — light heavyweight
Announced KSW fights:
KSW 81 — April 22
- Tomasz Sarara vs. Errol Zimmerman — heavyweight
- Igor Michaliszyn vs. Krystian Bielski — welterweight
KSW 83 — June 3
- Marian Ziółkowski vs. Salahdine Parnasse — lightweight
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