1. Jon Jones: Another title fight, another off-putting decision. Dominick Reyes didn’t do himself any favors by tiring late, but once again, Jones squeaks by thanks to suspect judging.
2. Terri Harper: In a battle of youth vs. experience, it was the 23-year old challenger who got the best of the five-year reigning WBC junior lightweight champion, Eva Wahlstrom.
3. Gary Russell Jr.: Tugstsogt Nyambayar was game, and provided Russell a game challenge, and came forward as advertised, but Russell just had too much for him. And knowing Russell’s schedule, that’ll be it for 2020!
4. Valentina Shevchenko: As I said on Twitter, this fight looked like a muay thai fighter against someone who emulated muay thai in camp. Chookagian had not a damned thing against an actual muay thai fighter in the Bullet, retaining her title with ease in the third round.
5. Phetmorakot Petchyindee Academy: Well, you can only defeat who’s in front of you, and Phetmorakot did just that, defeating Pongsiri PK. Saenchaimuaythaigym, after his opponent took the fight on two days notice after Detrit Sathian, who was originally the replacement for Jamal Yusupov and his Cinderella run. Let’s get Yusupov healthy and run back the original final.
6. Seth Gross: The #1 wrestler in the NCAA at 133lbs held off the #2 wrestler, Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young, with a 6-5 win, handing the PSU sophomore his first loss of the year in a losing effort to Penn State.
7. Guillermo Rigondeaux: Rigo, the 39-year old (“officially”) fighter, dropped down to 118lbs for the first time in over a decade to challenge Liborio Solis for the vacant WBA “Regular” strap at bantamweight, and escaped with a split-decision win. It was a ballsy move for a veteran to drop down in weight at her age, but the technician has done it again.
8. Kid Galahad: Earned a #1 contendership to Josh Warrington’s IBF Featherweight championship after finishing Claudio Marrero in the eigth-round of their ESPN+ tilt in Yorkshire.
9. Miranda Maverick: Topped Pearl Gonzalez by a wide margin to earn a shot at the now-vacant Invicta FC Flyweight championship.
10. Jaime Arboleda: Survived a scary 12th-round knockdown to eke out a split-decision win over veteran Jayson Velez on Showtime, Saturday, filling a mandatory slot for the WBA 130lb championship.
11. Christina Linardatou/Mary McGee: In the Hammond Indiana Civic Center of all places, half of the women’s world junior welterweight champions were on the line. Linardatou claimed the vacant WBO with a UD over Prisca Victot, while McGee retained her IBF with an 8th-round TKO of Deanha Hobbs.
12. Jinh Yu Frey: Lost her Invicta Atomweight title on the scales, then defeated Ashley Cummins for the second time by 48-47 (x3) UD. So now, Frey and Miranda Maverick will clash for the now-vacant Invicta Flyweight title.
13. Vincenzo Joseph: The #1 wrestler in college at 165lbs absolutely shut down #4 in the country Evan Wick from Wisconsin, shutting him out 8-0.
14. Dan Ige: I’ve said Ige was one to watch after defeating Kevin Aguilar, who is a fighter I absolutely love who was on a hot streak, and just continued his roll, defeating Mirsad Bektic on the main card of UFC 247.
15. Kell Brook: Took care of business, winning another tuneup fight against Mark DeLuca with a lightning-quick left, and possibly a date with Liam Smith next.
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