Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions. The UFC either announced or finalized seven fights this week, including a rescheduled headliner between Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Vicente Luque for UFC Vegas 78 and the return of the Bonfim brothers. Fans may recall, Ismael and Gabriel debuted at UFC 283, where they scored finishes of Terrance McKinney and Mounir Lazzez, respectfully. Should be fun to watch what they do in their next UFC appearances against Benoît Saint-Denis and Trevin Giles.
On the Bellator front, the promotion announced its latest cross-promotional venture with RIZIN, which is scheduled for July 30 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Bellator X RIZIN 2 features a Lightweight World Grand Prix Quarterfinal fight in AJ McKee vs. Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire, as well as an inaugural flyweight championship fight between Kyoji Horiguchi and Makoto ’Shinryu’ Takahashi.
This past Thursday, Nolan King of MMA Junkie reported that Bellator would introduce a flyweight division. As expected, Horiguchi was on tap for the opportunity, especially since his most recent flyweight fight against Ray Borg fell through after a botched weight cut from his would-be opponent. The ’Typhoon’ recently fought at the first Bellator X RIZIN, where he defeated Hiromasa Ougikubo via unanimous decision. As for Takahashi, he submitted Daichi Kitakata at RIZIN 41 this past April. The 22-year-old improved to 15-1-1 as a professional. For those unfamiliar with him, click here to see Takahashi in action!
Announced UFC fights:
UFC Vegas 74 — June 3
- John Castañeda vs. Muin Gafurov — bantamweight (First rep. by Sport in Tajikistan on Instagram)
UFC Vegas 76 — July 1
- Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Ismael Bonfim — lightweight (First rep. by Bonfim on Resenha UFC Fight Pass Ep. 16 on YouTube)
UFC Vegas 77 — July 15
- Terrance McKinney vs. Nazim Sadykhov — lightweight (First rep. by McKinney on Twitter)
UFC 291 — July 29
- Trevin Giles vs. Gabriel Bonfim — welterweight (First rep. by Diego Ribas of Ag. Fight)
UFC Nashville — August 5
- Ode’ Osbourne vs. Asu Almabaev — flyweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Jake Hadley — flyweight (First rep. by Red Fury MMA on Instagram)
UFC Vegas 78 — August 12
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Vicente Luque — welterweight (Dos Anjos vs. Luque was already confirmed, but shifted from UFC Vegas 77 to UFC Vegas 78, per Damon Martin of MMA Fighting)
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 298 — August 11
- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry — heavyweight
- Dalton Rosta vs. Aaron Jeffery — middleweight
- Sidney Outlaw vs. Islam Mamedov — lightweight
- Lucas Brennan vs. Weber Almeida — featherweight
- James Gallagher vs. Cris Lencioni — featherweight (First rep. Andy Stevenson of Severe MMA)
- Michael Blockhus vs. Eli Meffor — featherweight
- Alfie Davis vs. Aalon Cruz — lightweight
Bellator X RIZIN 2 — July 30
- AJ McKee vs. Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire — lightweight
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto ‘Shinryu’ Takahashi— flyweight
- Kana Watanabe vs. Veta Arteaga — women’s flyweight
Bellator Dublin — September 23
- Sinead Kavanagh vs. Sara Collins — women’s featherweight
- Luke Trainer vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius — light heavyweight
- Mark Ewen vs. Noah Gugnon — lightweight
- Kenny Mokhonoana vs. Josh O’Connor— featherweight
- Chiara Penco vs. Mackenzie Stiller — women’s strawweight
- Nicolo Solli vs. Romain Debienne — welterweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 155 — June 2
- Robert Hernandez vs. Moses Diaz — featherweight
- Jon Saragih vs. Johnny Gill Jr. — bantamweight
Cage Warriors 156 — July 1
- Matt Bonner vs. Darren Stewart — middleweight
Cage Warriors 157 — July 21
- Morgan Charrière vs. Diego Silva — featherweight