Your Weekend in Combat Sports

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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 March 1

3:00am: 2019 Dan Kolov Tournament (FloWrestling)
3:30am: Fenech Fight Night ($14.95 Epicentre.tv)
3:30am: Jayden Joseph vs. Kane Watts/David Drapac vs. Zac Bennett ($14.95 Epicentre.tv)
10:30am: 2019 NJCAA Wrestling Championships (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: UFC 235 Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
5:00pm: Max on Boxing (ESPN2)
5:00pm: 2019 New England Wrestling Championships (FloWrestling)
6:00pm: Fight To Win Pro 103 (FloGrappling)
7:00pm: 2019 Bengal Bouts Finals (ESPN3)
7:00pm: UFC 235 Pre-Show (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Iron Tiger Fight Series 86 (FloCombat)
8:00pm: Homecoming IV: Crowley vs. McLellan ($9.99 Fite.tv)
9:00pm: Unified MMA 36 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
10:00pm: Friday Night Fights: Martinez vs. Pina (UFC Fight Pass)
10:00pm: 2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier (FloGrappling)
11:35pm: Derrieck Cuevas vs. Ed Paredes/Ricardo Espinoza Franco vs. Ricardo Nunes (Telemundo)

 

Saturday March 2

3:00am: 2019 Dan Kolov Tournament (FloWrestling)
4:00am: Eternal MMA 41 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
8:30am: 2019 National Collegiate Open (FloWrestling)
11:00am: WWFC 14 ($4.99 Fite.tv)
11:30am: 2019 NJCAA Wrestling Championships (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: Joan Lique vs. Philipp Wiesenhofer/Evgenious Lazaridis vs. John Kimuanga Massaw ($9.99 Fite.tv)
1:00pm: 2019 PJW Junior High State Championships (FloWrestling)
3:00pm: Sparta Fight Series 3 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
4:00pm: Cage Warriors 102 (UFC Fight Pass)
5:00pm: 2019 New England Wrestling Championships (FloWrestling)
6:00pm: Men of War 5 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
6:30pm: UFC 235 Prelims (UFC Fight Pass)
7:00pm: Peak Fighting 1: Origins ($14.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: UFC 235 Prelims (ESPN)
9:00pm: Brian Carlos Castano vs. Erislandy Lara/Christian Hammer vs. Luis Ortiz (Showtime)
10:00pm: UFC 235 ($64.99 Pay-Per-View)

 

Sunday March 3

1:00am: UFC 235 Post-Fight Show (ESPN+)
3:30am: 2019 Dan Kolov Tournament (FloWrestling)
1:00pm: 2019 PJW Junior High State Championships (FloWrestling)

 

Top-10 Viewing Options: A man who got roped into and was WAY too into the reveals of The Masked Singer attempts to move on to a different frustrating mystery, a Tyron Woodley title fight.

 

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 1. UFC 235: WAR DAMNED LIONHEART. *sigh* He’s going to get murdered.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 2. Brian Carlos Castano vs. Erislandy Lara/Christian Hammer vs. Luis Ortiz: A legit three-deep card, but you have to have a strong stomach to watch Lara and Ortiz, both, shall we say, methodical fighters, on the same card.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports   3. 2019 NJCAA Wrestling Championships: As I said in Ecstasy of Gold, plenty of NCAA champs and MMA champs, Jon Jones for one, have been NJCAA champions.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 4. Cage Warriors 102: Still awaiting the next major Cage Warriors breakout star, but the two men battling for the vacant middleweight title, James Webb and Thomas Robertsen, could be just that.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 5. 2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier: A 76kg and 100kg tournament with sixteen of the best BJJ players in the world. And the time even works out, since it’s in Seoul!

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 6. Fight To Win Pro 103: Not loaded like the latest F2W cards, but black belt pro judo is still well-worth your time as they keep putting it out there.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 7. Derrieck Cuevas vs. Ed Paredes/Ricardo Espinoza Franco vs. Ricardo Nunes: Solid enough card on Telemundo from a pretty lame weekend.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 8. Max on Boxing: I’ve always liked Max Kellerman, especially on boxing. He certainly has his biases, like many boxing commentators, and I’d be shocked if he doesn’t have an Andre Ward tattoo covering his entire torso, but he’s candid and knowledgable, and I’m happy for him and happy ESPN continues to put more focus into boxing original programming.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 9. UFC 235 Post-Fight Show: We could have two new champions after this card, and the landscape could be totally shifted. I mean, probably not, BUT WE COULD!

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 10. 2019 National Collegiate Open: Essentially the NIT for the NCAA Wrestling Tournament.

 

4×5: Every week, UCS’s Luke Irwin will list his Top-5 bouts in each of the four major different combat sports that he’s looking forward to the most, regardless of any conventional criteria, merit, or logic.

 

KICKBOXING/MUAY THAI

5-3: N/A

2. 57kg Khamid Paskhaev vs. Spartak Shengelia [Absolute Championship Akhmat Kickboxing 18]

1. 67kg Georgi Khufenia vs. Tamerlan Bashirov [Absolute Championship Akhmat Kickboxing 18]

 

BOXING

5. Vacant WBA International Featherweight Championship: Emmanuel Dominguez (24-7-2) vs. Jordan Gill (22-0) [Matchroom on SKY]

4. Featherweight Bout: Bryan De Gracia (24-1-1) vs. Eduardo Ramirez (21-1-3) [Showtime Championship Boxing]

3. WBC World Female Bantamweight Championship: Mariana Juarez (c) (51-9-4) vs. Eva Naranjo (12-0) [Televisa]

2. Heavyweight Bout: Christian Hammer (24-5) vs. Luis Ortiz (30-1) [Showtime Championship Boxing]

1. WBA (regular) World Junior Middleweight Championship: Brian Carlos Castano (c) (15-0) vs. Erislandy Lara (25-3-2) [Showtime Championship Boxing]

 

MMA

5. Light Heavyweight Bout: Johnny Walker (16-3) vs. Misha Cirkunov (14-4) [UFC 235]

4. Bantamweight Bout: Cody Garbrandt (11-2) vs. Pedro Munhoz (17-3) [UFC 235]

3. Welterweight Bout: Ben Askren (18-0) vs. Robbie Lawler (28-12) [UFC 235]

2. UFC Welterweight Championship: Tyron Woodley (c) (19-3-1) vs. Kamaru Usman (14-1) [UFC 235]

1. UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Jon Jones (c) (23-1) vs. Anthony Smith (31-13) [UFC 235]

 

GRAPPLING/WRESTLING

5. 205lb Black Belt Judo Bout: Jaime Lazcano vs. Seth Daniels [Fight To Win 103]

4. 100kg Black Belt Bout: Claudio Calasans vs. Marcos Tinoco [2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier]

3. 76kg Black Belt Bout: Augusto Mendes vs. Lucas Rocha [2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier]

2. 76kg Black Belt Bout: Daniel Sathler vs. Matheus Lutes [2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier]

1. 100kg Black Belt Bout: Hyungcheul Kim vs. Matheus Diniz [2019 Spyder BJJ Invitational Championship Qualifier]

 

Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: A proper shellacking to the tune of a sixty-six dollar loss to cure any sort of pride I may have had for actually doing well is pretty much right.

 

Best Fight of the Weekend: Cody Garbrandt vs. Pedro Munhoz
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: James Webb vs. Thomas Robertsen
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Luis Ortiz over Christian Hammer
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: UFC 235
Upset of the Week: Tecia Torres over Weili Zhang
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Kamaru Usman vs. Tyron Woodley

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