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 April 5

4:30am: Patrick Rokohl vs. Zac Dunn/Tej Pratap Singh vs. Viktor Agateljan ($14.95 Epicentre.tv)
6:00am: Eternal MMA 43 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
12:00pm: 2019 Reno World Championships (FloWrestling)
12:30pm: Aliu Bamidele Lasisi vs. Ricardo Blandon /David Oliver Joyce vs. Stephen Tiffney (ESPN+)
4:00pm: Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5 Weigh-Ins (FREE Fite.tv)
5:30pm: Fight To Win Pro 107 (FloGrappling)
6:00pm: Valor Fighting Challenge 57 (FloCombat)
7:30pm: 2019 Reno World Championships (FloWrestling)
10:00pm: Angelo Leo vs. Neil John Tabanao/John Vincent Moralde vs. Xavier Martinez (Showtime)
10:00pm: Friday Night Fights (UFC Fight Pass)
10:00pm: BYB Brawl 1: Brawl For It All ($24.99 Fite.tv)

 

Saturday April 6

10:00am: Fight Nights Global 92 (DAZN)
11:00am: 2019 Reno World Championships (FloWrestling)
4:00pm: Muay Thai Grand Prix 24 (UFC Fight Pass)
5:00pm: PBC Face-To-Face: Adrian Granados vs. Danny Garcia (Fox)
6:00pm: KASAI Pro 5 (FloGrappling)
6:00pm: Cage Titans Fighting Championship 42 (FloCombat)
6:30pm: Sparta Fight League 38 ($16.99 Fite.tv)
7:00pm: 247 Fighting Championship: Steeltown Throwdown ($14.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: Shamrock Fighting Championship 317 (FloCombat)
8:00pm: WGP 53 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: Wimp 2 Warrior Calgary ($14.99 Fite.tv)
8:30pm: XFO: Night Of Champions ($14.99 Fite.tv)
9:00pm: Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5 ($29.99 Fite.tv)

 

Sunday April 7

2:00am: QUINTET Fight Night 3 (UFC Fight Pass)
1:00pm: 2019 Reno World Championships (FloWrestling)
4:00pm: Inside PBC Boxing (Fox)
7:00pm: 2019 Reno World Championships (FloWrestling)
8:30pm: PBC Countdown: Quillin vs. Truax (Fox Sports 1)
11:00pm: Countdown to Lomachenko vs. Crolla (ESPN2)
11:30pm: Unlocking Victory: UFC 236 (ESPN2)

 

Top-10 Viewing Options: An absolutely desolate weekend of fights, and I have no idea why. Not wanting to compete with WrestleMania? It’s on a Sunday. Major holiday? No. Time of year? It’s a spring thaw, people are still inside.

 

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 1. Fight Nights Global 92: One of the weakest weekends in combat sports (pro wrestling excluded) that I can remember in a long, long, while. But this is a fairly solid card if you need your MMA fix, headlined by Ali Bagautinov. I would have liked Bagautinov to stay in the UFC a little longer, but alas.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 2. Angelo Leo vs. Neil John Tabanao/John Vincent Moralde vs. Xavier Martinez: The best boxing offering of the weekend, unfortunately. But it’s a decent little ShoBox card. Leo has some promise and some decent pop for a featherweight, but he’s got a way to go.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 3. Aliu Bamidele Lasisi vs. Ricardo Blandon /David Oliver Joyce vs. Stephen Tiffney: Blandon is taking this fight on a day and change’s notice, so this seems like a fairly easy stepping stone for Lasisi.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 4. KASAI Pro 5: Grappling rules this upcoming fight weekend, and KASAI has the best lineup of them. Plus, I’m a sucker for tournaments.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 5. QUINTET Fight Night 3: Four grappling teams, all ladies, live from Tokyo. Love some team-based combat sports, and this is the best of the bunch right now.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 6. Fight To Win Pro 107: Another awesome card from the absolute lads (and lasses) at F2W, including Rick Hawn going back to his judo roots. If they attract more MMA fighters with judo backgrounds to compete, it’ll make their judo bouts all the better. SOMEONE GET ME JIM WALLHEAD ON THE PHONE!

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 7. Muay Thai Grand Prix 24: MTGP is a solid European muay thai promotion. They were partnering with Lion Fight for a while, but with this new arrangement, not sure if that’s still in place.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 8. Friday Night Fights: Fight Pass is promoting that they’re in the combat sports business since they lost their live UFC fights, and while having to sign up for yet another streaming service absolutely blows, it doesn’t suck to have more muay thai in my life, especially American muay thai, which desperately needs more exposure and fighters.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 9. Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5: We get to see Artem Lobov get handled without gloves this time!

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 10. Countdown to Lomachenko vs. Crolla: Loma’s continued vanquishing of divisions and rise up in weight will unlock some unbelievable matches, but he has to get through Crolla, a former lightweight champion, first.

 

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. 60kg Bout: Krystina Pospisilova vs. Sarah Worsfold [Muay Thai Grand Prix 24]

4. 63kg Bout: Katie Rand vs. Nicola Barke [Muay Thai Grand Prix 24]

3. Super Bantamweight Bout: Evan Jays vs. John Shink [Muay Thai Grand Prix 24]

2. Lightweight Bout: Omar Ahmed vs. Samuel Mongonia [Friday Night Fights]

1. 68kg Bout: Brian Totty vs. Michael Pham [Muay Thai Grand Prix 24]

 

BOXING

5. Bare Knuckle Bout: Chris Leben vs. Justin Baesman [Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship 5]

4. WBA Oceania Super Middleweight Championship: Zac Dunn (c) (27-1) vs. Patrick Rokohl (16-0) [ESPN+]

3. Junior Lightweight Bout: John Vincent Moralde (21-2) vs. Xavier Martinez (13-0) [ShoBox]

2. Vacant WBC International Junior Bantamweight Championship: Aliu Bamidele Lasisi (12-0) vs. Ricardo Blandon (10-1) [ESPN+]

1. Featherweight Bout: Angelo Leo (16-0) vs. Neil John Tabanao (17-4) [ShoBox]

 

MMA

5. Lightweight Bout: Ali Abdulkhalikov (6-0) vs. Ruslan Yamanbaev (6-6-1) [Fight Nights Global 92]

4. Bantamweight Bout: Nikita Baltabiev (7-3) vs. Vladimir Egoyan (20-7) [Fight Nights Global 92]

3. Bantamweight Bout: Mukhamed Eminov (13-0) vs. Nikita Mikhailov (7-1) [Fight Nights Global 92]

2. Vacant Fight Nights Global Welterweight Championship: Dmitry Bikrev (10-3) vs. Maxim Butorin (16-1-1) [Fight Nights Global 92]

1. Vacant Fight Nights Global Flyweight Championship: Ali Bagautinov (17-6) vs. Vartan Asatryan (21-8) [Fight Nights Global 92]

 

GRAPPLING/WRESTLING

5. Black Belt Superfight: Dante Leon vs. Edwin Najmi [KASAI Pro 5]

4. 190lb Black Belt Judo Bout: Mooney Cole vs. Rick Hawn [Fight To Win Pro 107]

3. 145lb Black Belt Bout: Ana Carolina Viera vs. Luiza Monteiro [Fight To Win Pro 107]

2. 205lb Tournament [KASAI Pro 5]

1. Female Team Tournament [QUINTET 3]

 

Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: It’s an incredibly weak weekend…that’s when to strike…when nobody’s looking…let’s ride some weird cards to the penthouse!

Best Fight of the Weekend: Ali Bagautinov vs. Vartan Asatryan
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Mooney Cole vs. Rick Hawn
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Angelo Leo over Neil Johyn Tabano
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: KASAI PRO 5
Upset of the Week: Jason Knight over Artem Lobov
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Artem Lobov vs. Jason Knight

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