Ringside Seats

Upcoming MMA Matchups of Note

***Card and dates subject to change. Click on the matchup for preview.***

July 7, UFC 226 (PPV)
UFC Heavyweight Championship (205+ lb): (1) Stipe Miocic (United States) vs. (1) [Light Heavyweight] Daniel Cormier (United States)
Heavyweight (205+ lb): (2) Francis Ngannou (Cameroon) vs. (10) Derrick Lewis (United States)

July 13, Bellator 202 (Paramount)
Bellator Women’s Featherweight Championship (145 lb): (2) Julia Budd (Canada) vs. (7) Talita Nogueira (Brazil)

July 28, UFC on FOX 30 (FOX)
Lightweight (155 lb)(4) Eddie Alvarez (United States) vs. (6) Dustin Poirier (United States)
Featherweight (145 lb)
(3) Jose Aldo (Brazil) vs. (7) Jeremy Stephens (United States)
Women’s Strawweight (115 lb)(2) Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Poland) vs. (6) Tecia Torres (United States)

July 29, Rizin FF
Women’s Atomweight (105 lb)(3) Kanna Asakura (Japan) vs. (7) Rena Kubota (Japan)

August 4, UFC 227 (PPV)
UFC Bantamweight Championship (135 lb): (1) T.J. Dillashaw (United States) vs. (2) Cody Garbrandt (United States)
UFC Flyweight Championship (125 lb): (1) Demetrious Johnson (United States) vs. (2) Henry Cejudo (United States)
Light Heavyweight (205 lb): (2) Alexander Gustafsson (Sweden) vs. (4) Volkan Oezdemir (Switzerland)
Featherweight (145 lb): (5) Cub Swanson (United States) vs. (10) Renato “Moicano” Carneiro (Brazil)

August 25, 2018 (FS1)
Lightweight (155 lb): (7) Justin Gaethje (United States) vs. (9) James Vick (United States)


Ongoing Fight of the Year Rankings

***Rankings based on excitement, competitiveness, technical skill, and activity, but not necessarily in that order. I won’t rank anything that I don’t believe to be worth watching, so average or lackluster fights will not place. Only fights that last longer than a round are ranked. This is not meant to be comprehensive; I will only be ranking those fights which I have seen. I have a lot of stuff on my plate to watch at any one time, so fights of note may be missing.  Lots of prelim and international fights in my queue.  The rankings may also change throughout the year based on reevaluations or second viewings.***

I apologize in advance for the formatting, I just straight up copy it out of my ongoing Excel file.

1 Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje UFC on FOX 29
2 Calvin Kattar vs. Shane Burgos UFC 220
3 Drew Dober vs. Frank Camacho UFC on FOX 27
4 Darren Elkins vs. Michael Johnson UFC Fight Night 124
5 Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero UFC 225
6 Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk UFC 223
7 Thiago Santos vs. Anthony Smith UFC Fight Night 125
8 Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Kyle Bochniak UFC 223
9 Merab Dvalishvili vs. Ricky Simon UFC Fight Night 128
10 Jimi Manuwa vs. Jan Blachowicz UFC Fight Night 127
11 Mamed Khalidov vs. Tomasz Narkun KSW 42
12 Jake Matthews vs. Li Jingliang UFC 221
13 Jessica Andrade vs. Tecia Torres UFC on FOX 28
14 Sarah Moras vs. Lucie Pudilova UFC Fight Night 126
15 Mike Perry vs. Max Griffin UFC on FOX 28
16 Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Felice Herrig UFC 223
17 Jeremy Stephens vs. Doo Ho Choi UFC Fight Night 124
18 Wilson Reis vs. John Moraga UFC on FOX 29
19 Jacare Souza vs. Kelvin Gastelum UFC 224
20 Thomas Deak vs. Sharamazan Shupanov FNG 84
21 Rolando Dy vs. Shane Young UFC Fight Night 131
22 Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir UFC 220
23 John Lineker vs. Brian Kelleher UFC 224
24 Renan Barao vs. Brian Kelleher UFC on FOX 28
25 Jeremy Stephens vs. Josh Emmett UFC on FOX 28
26 Claudio Puelles vs. Felipe Silva UFC Fight Night 129
27 Steven Peterson vs. Brandon Davis UFC Fight Night 126
28 Sean O’Malley vs. Andre Soukhamthath UFC 222
29 Ben Saunders vs. Alan Jouban UFC on FOX 28
30 Yoel Romero vs. Luke Rockhold UFC 221
31 Carlos Condit vs. Alex Oliveira UFC on FOX 29
32 Thomas Almeida vs. Rob Font UFC 220
33 Dustin Ortiz vs. Alexandre Pantoja UFC 220
34 John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz UFC 222
35 Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Colby Covington UFC 225
36 Joe Lauzon vs. Chris Gruetzemacher UFC 223
37 Thales Leites vs. Jack Hermansson UFC 224
38 Paul Craig vs. Magomed Ankalaev UFC Fight Night 127
39 Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Volkov UFC Fight Night 127
40 Jason Knight vs. Makwan Amirkhani UFC Fight Night 130
41 Gian Villante vs. Francimar Barroso UFC 220
42 Christian Lee vs. Kazunori Yokota ONE 69
43 Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen UFC 221
44 Zhalgas Zhumagalov vs. Tyson Nam FNG 86
45 Kalyn Schwartz vs. Kay Hansen Invicta 28
46 Jarred Brooks vs. Jose Torres UFC Fight Night 131
47 Nanaka Kawamura vs. Mizuki Furuse DEEP JEWELS 19
48 Sara McMann vs. Marion Reneau UFC on FOX 28
49 Janne Elonen-Kulmala vs. Huyixbai Chuhayifu M-1 Challenge 91
50 Thiago Alves vs. Curtis Millender UFC Fight Night 126
51 Riski Umar vs. Khon Sichan ONE 69
52 Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta UFC 223
53 Brandon Moreno vs. Alejandre Pantoja UFC Fight Night 129
54 Veronica Macedo vs. Andrea Lee UFC Fight Night 129
55 Michael Prazeres vs. Desmond Green UFC Fight Night 125
56 Edson Barboza vs. Kevin Lee UFC Fight Night 128
57 Andrei Arlovski vs. Tai Tuivasa UFC 225
58 Li Jingliang vs. Daichi Abe UFC Fight Night 132


Upcoming Kickboxing Matchups of Note

***Card and dates subject to change***

Bellator Kickboxing 10, July 14 (Paramount)
Lightweight (154.3 lb): (3) Giorgio Petrosyan (Armenia) vs. (5) Chingiz Allazov (Georgia)

Glory 55: New York, July 20 (ESPN)
Middleweight (187.4 lb): (1) Alex Pereira (Brazil) vs. (3) Yousri Belgaroui (Netherlands)
Featherweight (143.3 lb): (2) Robin van Roosmalen (Netherlands) vs. (5) Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (Thailand)

Glory 57: Shenzen, August 25 (ESPN)
Lightweight (154.3 lb): (1) Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong (Thailand) vs. (2) Marat Grigorian (Armenia)

Glory 58: Chicago, September 15 (ESPN)
Heavyweight (209.4+ lb): (2) Benjamin Adegbuyi (Romania) vs. (5) Jamal Ben Saddik (Belgium)

Ongoing GLORY Fight of the Year Rankings

1 Omar Moreno vs. Casey Greene Glory 50: Chicago
2 Mohammed Jaraya vs. Miles Simsen Glory 51: Rotterdam
3 Josh Jauncey vs. Stoyan Koprivlenksi Glory 52: Los Angeles
4 Robin Van Roosmalen vs. Kevin VanNostrand Glory 52: Los Angeles
5 Zakaria Zouggary vs. Bailey Sugden Glory 52: Los Angeles
6 Serhiy Adamchuk vs. Victor Pinto Glory 53: Lilles
7 Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs Abdellah Ezbiri Glory 53: Lilles
8 Danyo Ilunga vs Fraser Weightman Glory 54: Birmingham
9 Badr Hari vs. Hesdy Gerges Glory 51: Rotterdam
10 Marat Grigorian vs Liu Xu Glory 54: Birmingham
11 Jahfarr Wilnis vs Jamal Ben Saddik Glory 53: Lilles
12 Pavel Zhuravlev vs Myron Dennis Glory 52: Los Angeles
13 Benjamin Adegbuyi vs Junior Tafa Glory 50: Chicago
14 Sittichai Sitsongpeenon vs. Christian Baya Glory 50: Chicago
15 Massaro Glunder vs Victor Pinto Glory 51: Rotterdam
16 Zinedine Hameur-Lain vs Michael Duut Glory 53: Lilles


Upcoming Boxing Matches of Note

***Card and dates subject to change. Click on the matchup for preview. Television access listed where available. International match ups not shown on American television can often be found on YouTube soon after the completion of the fight.***

Bolded match ups are considered “must see.”

July 21
Cruiserweight (200 lb): (1) Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs. (3) Murat Gassiev (Russia)

July 21, HBO
Super Welterweight (154 lb): (4) Jaime Munguia (Mexico) vs. (8) Liam Smith (United Kingdom)

July 27
Minimumweight (105 lb): (2) Knockout CP Freshmart (Thailand) vs. (10) Chaozhong Xiong (China)

July 28
Heavyweight (200+ lb): (8) Dillian Whyte (Jamaica) vs. (9) Joseph Parker (New Zealand)

July 28
Lightweight (135 lb): (2) Mikey Garcia (United States) vs. (3) Robert Easter Jr. (United States)

August 8, HBO
Light Heavyweight (175 lb)
: (2) Sergey Kovalev (Russia) vs. (5) Eleider Alvarez (Colombia)

September 11
Bantamweight (118 lb): (6) Mark John Yap (Philippines) vs. (7) Takuma Inoue (Japan)

September 15, HBO PPV
Middleweight (160 lb): (1) Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (Mexico) vs. (2) Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)

 

Written by Mark

A gentleman and a scholar.