Your Weekend in Combat Sports

whittaker

 

As always, programming is listed in EST
Live fights are in BOLD.
Premiere programming is in ITALICS.
MMA programming is in ORANGE.
Boxing programming is in RED.
Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Karate programming is in BLUE.
Wrestling/Jiu Jitsu/Grappling programming is in PURPLE.
Misc./Combination combat sports programming is in GREEN.

 

Friday February 8

8:00am: PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships (FloWrestling)
8:00am: 2019 Wildwood National Duals (FloWrestling)
5:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN: Ramirez vs. Zepeda Press Conference (ESPN+)
6:00pm: North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (ACC Network)
6:30pm: Penn vs. Cornell (ESPN+)
7:00pm: UFC 234 Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Central Michigan vs. Buffalo (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Old Dominion vs. Ohio (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Michigan State vs. Northwestern (FloWrestling)
7:00pm: Indiana vs. Rutgers (FloWrestling)
7:00pm: Purdue vs. Stanford (FloWrestling)
7:30pm: Fight To Win Pro 101 (FloGrappling)
8:00pm: Iowa vs. Maryland (FloWrestling)
8:00pm: Nebraska vs. Minnesota (FloWrestling)
8:00pm: Oklahoma State vs. Air Force (FloWrestling)
8:30pm: Ohio State vs. Penn State (BigTen Network)
9:00pm: UFC 234 Pre-Fight Show (ESPN+)
10:00pm: Combate Americas: Mexicali (DAZN)

 

Saturday February 9

4:30am: 2019 Grand Prix Zagreb Open (FloWrestling)
8:00am: 2019 Wildwood National Duals (FloWrestling)
9:00am: PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: Spartacus Fighting League 7 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
1:00pm: Pitt vs. Gardner-Webb (ESPN+)
1:00pm: Southern Illinois vs. Ohio (ESPN+)
1:00pm: Princeton vs. Cornell (ESPN+)
1:00pm: Duke vs. Virginia (ACC Network)
1:00pm: 2019 ADCC West Coast Trials (FloGrappling)
1:00pm: Ultimate Challnge MMA 58 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
1:30pm: Ansgar Fighting League MMA 18 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
4:00pm: Fresno State vs. CSU Bakersfield (ESPN3)
4:00pm: Penn vs. Columbia (ESPN+)
6:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
6:30pm: UFC 234 Prelims (UFC Fight Pass)
7:00pm: Edinboro vs. Oklahoma (FloWrestling)
7:00pm: Indiana vs. Stanford (FloWrestling)
7:30pm: Rey Vargas vs. Franklin Manzanilla/Alberto Machado vs. Andrew Cancio (DAZN)
8:00pm: UFC 234 Prelims (ESPN)
8:00pm: Pyramid Fights 10 ($19.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: Dynasty Combat Sports 50 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
10:00pm: Gervonta Davis vs. Hugo Ruiz/Erickson Lubin vs. Ishe Smith (Showtime)
10:00pm: UFC 234 ($64.99 Pay-Per-View)
10:00pm: Premier MMA Championship 11 ($19.99 Fite.tv)

 

Sunday February 10

1:00am: UFC 234 Post-Fight Show (ESPN+)
4:30am: 2019 Grand Prix Zagreb Open (FloWrestling)
8:00am: 2019 Wildwood National Duals (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: Michigan vs. Northwestern (BigTen Network)
1:00pm: Pitt vs. NC State (ACC Network)
2:00pm: Princeton vs. Columbia (ESPN+)
2:00pm: Purdue vs. Rutgers (FloWrestling)
2:00pm: Minnesota vs. Maryland (FloWrestling)
2:00pm: Michigan State vs. Cleveland State (FloWrestling)
3:00pm: Wisconsin vs. Illinois (FloWrestling)
4:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN Prelims (ESPN+)
4:00pm: Wyoming vs. South Dakota State (FloWrestling)
7:00pm: Jose Carlos Ramirez vs. Jose Zepeda/Hiroki Okada vs. Raymundo Beltran (ESPN)

 

Top-10 Viewing Options: After last weekend, BOY, do I need something to get that taste out of my mouth from Sunday. Great job, McVay.

 

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  1. UFC 234: It’s only a two-fight card, but goddamn, a damned amazing two fights they are.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  2. Jose Carlos Ramirez vs. Jose Zepeda/Hiroki Okada vs. Raymundo Beltran: First Sunday after the NFL season, and ESPN throwing down huge fights on a Sunday night. I’ve been wondering why fight promotions don’t utilize Sundays more often, the viewers are there.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  3. Rey Vargas vs. Franklin Manzanilla/Alberto Machado vs. Andrew Cancio: Not a loaded card for Golden Boy and DAZN, but a decent-enough one. Plus, Rey Vargas is always worth your time.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  4. Gervonta Davis vs. Hugo Ruiz/Erickson Lubin vs. Ishe Smith: Unfortunately, because of Abner Mares’s last-minute injury, this drops this card a couple spots.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  5. Fight To Win Pro 101: Now featuring judo! And F2W is coming strong, featuring Olympian Ryan Reser and fellow black belt Javier Torres.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  6. Ohio State vs. Penn State: Two Big Ten hosses, including the defending three-time national champs. This is a must-watch.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  7. 2019 ADCC West Coast Trials: The ADCC World Championships are the biggest and most prestigious jiu-jitsu tournaments in the world, they only happen bi-yearly and this year they’re coming back to the States! Specifically, they’re going down in SoCal again, so these tryouts are even more important than usual.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  8. UFC 234 Post-Fight Show: Gonna be reeeaaal interesting to see the middleweight landscape after the top-two fights on the card.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  9. 2019 Wildwood National Duals: The national champions and Olympians of tomorrow are rolling here. One of the most prestigious and biggest amateur wrestling tourney in the country.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports  10. PIAA Team Wrestling State Championships: OK, a personal choice, so give me this. Rep Erie well, ladies and gents.

 

KICKBOXING/MUAY THAI

N/A

 

BOXING

5. Junior Welterweight Bout: Hiroki Okada (19-0) vs. Raymundo Beltran (35-8-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]

4. WBA “Regular” World Junior Lightweight Championship: Alberto Machado (c) (21-0) vs. Andrew Cancio (19-4-2) [Golden Boy on DAZN]

3. WBA “Super” World Junior Lightweight Championship: Gervonta Davis (c) (20-0) vs. Hugo Ruiz (39-4) [PBC on Showtime]

2. WBC World Junior Featherweight Championship: Rey Vargas (c) (32-0) vs. Franklin Manzanilla (18-4) [Golden Boy on DAZN]

1. WBC World Junior Welterweight Championship: Jose Carlos Ramirez (c) (23-0) vs. Jose Zepeda (30-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]

 

MMA

5. Women’s Flyweight Bout: Montana De La Rosa (9-4) vs. Nadia Kassem (5-0) [UFC 234]

4. Light Heavyweight Bout: Jim Crute (9-0) vs. Sam Alvey (33-11) [UFC 234]

3. Bantamweight Bout: Rani Yahya (26-9) vs. Ricky Simon (14-1) [UFC 234]

2. Middleweight Bout: Anderson Silva (34-8) vs. Israel Adesanya (15-0) [UFC 234]

1. UFC Middleweight Championship: Robert Whittaker (c) (20-4) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (15-3) [UFC 234]

 

GRAPPLING/WRESTLING

5. 157lb Bout: #1 Jason Nolf (Penn State vs. #5 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State) [Ohio State vs. Penn State]

4. 184lb Bout: #1 Myles Martin (Ohio State) vs. #2 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State) [Ohio State vs. Penn State]

3. 197lb Bout: #1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) vs. #2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) [Ohio State vs. Penn State]

2. Fight To Win Black Belt Super Heavyweight Masters Championship: Alexander Huddleston vs. Ricardo Feliciano [Fight To Win Pro 101]

1. 185 Black Belt Judo Bout: Javier Torres vs. Ryan Reser [Fight To Win Pro 101]

 

Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: Nine cents! Nine goddamned cents. But it’s nine cents in the red! That’s three straight weeks in the plus-column! Folks, when you temper your expectations, you can never be disappointed.

 

Best Fight of the Weekend: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Robert Whittaker
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Bo Nickal vs. Kollin Moore
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Erickson Lubin over Ishe Smith
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: UFC 234
Upset of the Week: Sam Alvey over Jim Crute
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Rey Vargas vs. Franklin Manzanilla

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