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 August 16
6:30am: OneFC: Dreams of Gold Prelims (Facebook/Twitter)
7:00am: King of Kings Fight Series: Turkey ($3.99 kokfights.tv)
8:30am: OneFC: Dreams of Gold (OneFC App)
4:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
5:00pm: UFC 241 Weigh-Ins (ESPN2)
5:30pm: Max on Boxing (ESPN2)
7:00pm: Cage Fury Fighting Championship 77 (UFC Fight Pass)
8:00pm: Fight To Win 122 (FloGrappling)
9:00pm: Fusion Fight League: Fights Under the Lights 5 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
10:00pm: Kinektic 1 (UFC Fight Pass)
Saturday August 17
4:00am: Kunlun Combat Professional League (FightBoxHD)
4:15am: Apichet Petchmanee vs. Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo II/Phongsaphon Panyakum vs. Wittawas Basapean (DAZN)
1:00pm: GCFC MMA 8 (FREE Fite.tv)
2:00pm: Final X Special Wrestle-Off: Dake vs. Dieringer (FloWrestling)
2:00pm: Thracia Fighting Championship (FREE Fite.tv)
3:00pm: Charles Foster vs. Denis Grachev/Devin Vargas vs. Niall Kennedy (UFC Fight Pass)
6:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN Prelims (ESPN+)
6:00pm: Montreal Fight League 13 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
6:00pm: KASAI Pro 6 (FloGrappling)
6:15pm: UFC 241 Prelims (ESPN+)
7:30pm: Premier MMA Championship 13 ($19.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: UFC 241 Prelims (ESPN)
8:00pm: Lion Fight 58 (CBS Sports)
8:00pm: Championship Fight Night: Mohler vs. Bradford ($14.99 Fite.tv)
10:00pm: Emanuel Navarrete vs. Francisco De Vaca/Aslanbek Kozaev vs. Chris van Heerden (ESPN)
10:00pm: UFC 241 (Pay-Per-View)
Sunday August 18
1:00am: UFC 241 Post-Fight Show (ESPN+)
1:00am: RIZIN 18 ($22.99 Fite.tv)
4:00am: Kunlun Combat Professional League (FightBoxHD)
7:30pm: PBC Face-To-Face: Lara vs. Alvarez (Fox Sports 1)
8:00pm: Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds 3: The Welterweights (UFC Fight Pass)
8:00pm: PBC Countdown: Figueroa vs. Chacon (Fox Sports 1)
Top-10 Viewing Options: A man counting down the days until the Steelers and Fighting Irish to let him down once again pass the time with a great weekend of fights.
1. UFC 241: Finally, a PPV card that can actually deliver on its promise. Then again, was anybody clamoring for DC-Stipe II? The UFC clearly wanted DC-Brock for this spot, which would have been much more interesting, even though Stipe is a better fighter.
2. Kinektic 1: Much like QUINTET, which is NOT cool with Kinektic doing this, Kinektic, from co-owner Urijah Faber is a team-based grappling promotion featuring some huge names.
3. OneFC: Dreams of Gold: The Doctor is in. That’s right, Giorgio Petrosyan, fresh off OneFC granted him a bullshit rematch that he, of course, won. ONE is going to have him win this tournament, come hell of high water. Carries a lot of prestige to have the best kickboxer in the world on your roster. Even though Rico might have that crown now…
4. Emanuel Navarrete vs. Francisco De Vaca/Aslanbek Kozaev vs. Chris van Heerden: Navarrete-De Vaca is the only men’s boxing world title fight of the weekend, and the undercard is decent, if unspectacular.
5. KASAI Pro 6: I am a big fan of tournaments, especially one-night tournaments, and KASAI always delivers on that end.
6. Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds 3: The Welterweights: Grappling and wrestling rules the roost this weekend, and Combat JJ is a big of a part of that as any.
7. Lion Fight 58: Muay Thai, especially a top-notch American MT promotion like Lion Fight, getting a regular slot on an American sports network, even one like CBS Sports, is a great thing. ESPECIALLY if it translates to CBS airing a live card on their network channel, which I’m sure is the end-goal of Lion Fight. Remember, CBS was the first network to broadcast MMA.
8. Fight To Win 122: The weekend of grappling doesn’t stop, but is it a testament that not one of F2W’s bouts cracked the top-5 wrestling/grappling bouts of the weekend. That’s how great a weekend it is.
9. RIZIN 18: RIZIN = Good! Twenty-three bucks for a mild RIZIN card = Not good!
10. Final X Special Wrestle-Off: Dake vs. Dieringer: Really interesting showing here, as Collegiate legends Kyle Dake and Alex Dieringer battle for a spot on the 2019 U.S. Worlds Team.
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. 75kg Catchweight Bout: Danilo Zanolini vs. John Wayne Parr (99-33-1) [RIZIN 18]
4. Bantamweight Muay Thai Bout: Kenta Yamada (58-24-6) vs. Muangthai PKSaenchaimuaythaigym (73-39-2) [OneFC: Dawn of Heroes]
3. OneFC Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship: Petchdam Petchyindee Academy (c) (27-12-1) vs. Ilias Ennahachi (29-2-1) [OneFC: Dawn of Heroes]
2. Featherweight Kickboxing Grand Prix Semifinals: Dzhabar Askerov (108-35-2) vs. Samy Sana (133-8) [OneFC: Dawn of Heroes]
1. Featherweight Kickboxing Grand Prix Semifinals: Giorgio Petrosyan (100-2-2) vs. Jo Nattawut (70-7-2) [OneFC: Dawn of Heroes]
BOXING
5. IBF World Female Bantamweight Championship: Maria Cecilia Roman (c) (14-4-1) vs. Julieta Andrea Ines Cardozo (12-3)
4. IBF World Female Flyweight Championship: Leonela Paola Yudica (c) (16-0-3) vs. Isabel Millan (25-5-1)
3. Featherweight Bout: Jessie Magdaleno (26-1) vs. Rafael Rivera (27-3-2) [Top Rank on ESPN]
2. Welterweight Bout: Aslanbek Kozaev (33-2-1) vs. Chris van Heerden (27-2-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]
1. WBO World Junior Featherweight Championship: Emanuel Navarrete (c) (27-1) vs. Francisco De Vaca (20-0) [Top Rank on ESPN]
MMA
5. Bantamweight Bout: Kai Asakura (7-1) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (28-2) [RIZIN 18]
4. Bantamweight Bout: Cory Sandhagen (11-1) vs. Raphael Assuncao (27-6) [UFC 241]
3. Welterweight Bout: Anthony Pettis (22-8) vs. Nate Diaz (19-11) [UFC 241]
2. Middleweight Bout: Paulo Costa (12-0) vs. Yoel Romero (13-3) [UFC 241]
1. UFC Heavyweight Championship: Daniel Cormier (c) (22-1) vs. Stipe Miocic (18-3) [UFC 241]
GRAPPLING/WRESTLING
5. U.S Team Wrestle-Off: Alex Dieringer vs. Kyle Dake [Final X Special Wrestle-Off]
4. KASAI Bantamweight Championship Tournament [KASAI Pro 6]
3. Team SUG vs. Team Lionheart [KINEKTIC 1]
2. BJJ Fanatics vs. Lights Out Urban Achievers [KINEKTIC 1]
1. Kinektic Finals [KINEKTIC 1]
Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: In the words of legendary manager Lou Brown…
Best Fight of the Weekend: Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Kai Asakura vs. Kyoji Horiguchi
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Emanuel Navarrete over Francisco De Vaca
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: KINEKTIC 1
Upset of the Week: Ilias Ennahachi over Petchdam Petchyindee Academy
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Jo Nattawut
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