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We are here with another edition of Fights on Tap for you! This is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
The UFC either announced or finalized 17 fights this week, and the newly crowned BMF champion has his first defense scheduled.
The UFC is still a few months away from UFC 300, its tricentennial event that Dana White promised would have ‘insane’ fights. So far, the UFC CEO has announced a couple, such as Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan, Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan and Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic, which are all great fights. However, on Tuesday, White really upped the ante with a fight that is the very definition of insane when he announced that BMF champion Justin Gaethje would defend against Max Holloway.
In his most recent appearance, Gaethje won the BMF championship with a highlight-reel finish of Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 in July. Though the ‘Highlight’ thought he should get Islam Makhachev next, the promotion went a different direction. Now Gaethje faces a former UFC champion in Holloway, who comes into this fight months removed from a ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded performance against Chan Sung Jung at UFC Singapore.
I have to give props to Max Holloway for this because he really willed this fight into existence. A few months ago, ‘Blessed’ said his ideal fight was Gaethje at UFC 300, which was ‘short on guys’ at the time. I thought the promotion would have something else for Gaethje, so I figured Holloway was not an option. Then Dana White announced Islam Makhachev was recovering from an injury, Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan was the next No. 1 contender, and suddenly, Gaethje was in need of an opponent.
Holloway came in, and that was that. Regardless of your thoughts on this fight, it is fun for the fans.
Announced UFC fights
UFC Vegas 86 — February 10
- Dan Ige vs. Andre Fili — featherweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
UFC 298 — February 17
- Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern — strawweight (First rep. by Brian Martin of the OC Register)
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov — middleweight (First rep. by Mike Heck and Damon Martin of MMA Fighting)
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Carlos Vera — bantamweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
UFC Vegas 87 — March 2
- Julia Polastri vs. Josefine Knutsson — strawweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
UFC Vegas 88 — March 16
- Mohammed Usman vs. Chris Barnett — heavyweight (First rep. by Mohammed on Instagram)
- Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Ovince St. Preux — light heavyweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
- Chad Anheliger vs. Charalampos Grigoriou — bantamweight (First rep. by Grigoriou on Instagram)
UFC Vegas 89 — March 23
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Gabriel Miranda — featherweight (First rep. by Quarantillo on Twitter)
UFC Atlantic City — March 30
- Ibo Aslan vs. Anton Turkalj — light heavyweight (First rep. by Team Turkalj)
UFC Vegas 90 — April 6
- Cesar Almeida vs. Josh Fremd — middleweight (First rep. by Leo Guimaraes of Super Lutas)
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Piera Rodriguez — strawweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
UFC 300 — April 13
- Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway — lightweight
- Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller — lightweight
UFC Fight Night — April 27
- Ariane Lipski vs. Karine Silva — flyweight (First rep. by MMA Hoje)
- James Llontop vs. Lando Vannata — lightweight (First rep. by MMA Fusion)
- Maheshate Hayishaer vs. Anshul Jubli — lightweight (First rep. by Hayishaer via Douyin, H/T Chris Presnell of MMA Ecosystem)
Anthony Hernandez vs. Ikram Aliskerov was one of the fights I was most excited to see at UFC 298 in February, so when Aliskerov withdrew due to a staph infection (speedy recovery to him!), I was disappointed. I got over it when I saw the short-notice replacement for Aliskerov was Roman Kopylov.
Hernandez and Kopylov are not only on four-fight win streaks, but they are also finishers, so you can expect some violence. Plus, this fight was already supposed to happen in September, so I am excited to finally see it.
Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights
PFL vs. Bellator: Champions — February 24
- Ryan Bader vs. Renan Ferreira — heavyweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Johnny Eblen vs. Impa Kasanganay — middleweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Jason Jackson vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov — welterweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Bruno Cappelozza vs. Vadim Nemkov — heavyweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Thiago Santos vs. Yoel Romero — light heavyweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Clay Collard vs. AJ McKee — lightweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Gabriel Braga vs. Aaron Pico — featherweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
- Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Chris Morris — lightweight
- Claressa Shields vs. Kelsey DeSantis — lightweight
- Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Edukondala Rao — featherweight
2024 PFL Europe 1 — March 7
- Cedric Doumbe vs. Baissangour Chamsoudinov — welterweight (First rep. by ARENA)
I was hoping Professional Fighters League (PFL) would give us more fights for the PFL vs. Bellator: Champions card, and they did! From Johnny Eblen vs. Impa Kasanganay to Clay Collard vs. AJ McKee, this card is shaping up nicely. However, I have my eyes on what they have set for Cedric Doumbe. In September, Doumbe appeared for the first time in the SmartCage, where he slept Jordan Zebo in nine seconds. NINE SECONDS! Afterwards, ‘Le Meilleur’ started campaigning for fights against prominent names such as Anthony Pettis.
Not sure when he gets those fights, but for now, I can appreciate the approach PFL is going with Doumbe.
Announced Cage Warriors fights
Cage Warriors 166 — February 23
- Xavier Vines vs. Corvan Allen — bantamweight
- Bobby Winther vs. Devin Goodale — welterweight
- Diego Vazquez vs. Sean Rose — heavyweight
Cage Warriors 167 — March 15
- Omiel Brown vs. Rafael Aronov — welterweight
- Michael Pagani vs. Konstantinos Ntelis — lightweight
Cage Warriors 168 — March 16
- Liam Gittins vs. Roberto Hernandez — bantamweight
- Tom Nicholls Burton vs. Craig Rawlins — middleweight
- Sam Kelly vs. Alessandro Giordano — bantamweight
Cage Warriors 169 — March 30
- Jordan Vucenic vs. Simone D’Anna — featherweight
Cage Warriors 170 — April 6
- Eimear Darcy vs. Jenny Line — flyweight
Listen. If I see an announcement regarding Jordan Vucenic, then I tune in. It is simple.
Announced KSW fights
KSW Epic — February 24
- Piotr Kacprzak vs. Adam Brysz — lightweight
KSW 92 — March 16
- Jakub Wikłacz vs. Zuriko Jojua — bantamweight
Good to see Jakub Wikłacz scheduled for another defense, especially after his most recent ended in a Draw. Now that the Sebastian Przybysz chapter of his career has closed (or has it? Perhaps they fight again, a la Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo since Wikłacz and Przybysz are 1-1-1), I am ready to see what comes next. He and Zuriko Jojua were previously scheduled to fight until Jojua withdrew due to injury in June, so hopefully this was worth the wait.