Fighters of the Week

1. Chris Eubank Jr.: Reunited with his beloved IBO Super Middleweight title and finally has his marquee win over a former multiple-time world champion in James DeGale.

2. Anthony Dirrell: Of course, it ended weirdly, with a head clash and a technical decision, but Dirrell was the better fighter and claimed the WBC World Super Middleweight crown.

3. Thiago Santos: Four in a row, eight out of nine as I said in the Bulletin. Santos, after a long run, has at least earned the right to get tuned up by one of the half-dozen or so big dogs at the top of 185, but it’ll at least be a fresh matchup!

4. Stefan Struve: While he may never use his reach to his advantage like we’ve been hoping for a decade, he still has a crazy ground game with those mantis limbs and that earned him a submission win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima in the co-main of UFC Fight Night in Prague.

5. Brendan Allen: Is now a defending LFA middleweight champion after an absolute pasting of Moses Murrieta to the tune of 50-43, 50-43, and 50-42. After a win and the ever-rare LFA defense, Allen is due for a callup any time now.

6. Stamp Fairtex: That makes both the OneFC’s kickboxing AND muay thai atomweight championships around her shoulders, as the 21-year-old defeated accomplished American amateur fighter Janet Tood in the main event for the inaugural title at OneFC: Call to Greatness.

7. Davit Kiria: Kunlun Fight had a really good 70kg tournament lineup, and it was Kiria taking it all, narrowly edging out Marouan Toutouh in the finals on scores of 29-29, 28-29, 30-27, 30-29, and 30-29.

8. Yuri Simoes: It wasn’t the star-studded tournament we thought it was going to be, unfortunately. Kevin Casey isn’t exactly an adequate fill-in for Josh Barnett, but regardless, Simoes still took the Combat Jiu-Jitsu Absolute Championship tournament, defeating Stephen Martinez, then kneebarring Jon Blank in the finals.

9. Soufiane Kaddouri: Defended his Enfusion 63kg championship with one of the most brutal moves in the fight game, a goddamned spinning back kick over Andre Bruhl at Enfusion 78.

10. James Gallagher: He’s never going to the dominant Conor McGregor-esque fighter, lacking much in the ring and behind the mic, but he’s still a slick submission artist who can take down middling competition, which is exactly what he did in the main event of Bellator 217 in Dublin.

11. Mansour Barnaoui: Has a heavier wallet than yesterday after winning the finals of RoadFC’s $1,000,000 lightweight tournament, capping it off with a MONSTER knee KO.

12. Joe Joyce: Took the logical next step on his journey toward the world title-tier, stopping Bermaine Stiverne in the co-main event of the Eubank-DeGale card.

13. Humberto Soto: Soto came in as a 5-to-1 underdog and proceeded to go to battle with another warrior in Brandon Rios, and came out on top. By the by, Sergio Mora continues to be an absolute ass of a ref.

14. Roman Kryklia: The Kunlun Fight Heavyweight tournament champ, but it was a very, very weak field, so hence, he’s way down here.

15. Georges St. Pierre: Rarely do retirements stick in combat sports, but GSP has always been a cut above the usual carny tactics of his peers. His career can’t be merely summarized here, it speaks for itself, and I’ll be looking forward to what he does next.