1. Lawrence Okolie: Is a world champion for the first time after a dazzling performance over Krzysztof Glowacki, knocking him out in the sixth round after bloodying him early in London.
2. Artur Beterbiev: Knocked down Adam Deines in the first and tenth rounds, coasting to a victory and retaining both of his light heavyweight world championships.
3. Vergil Ortiz Jr.: The future has arrived. Maurice Hooker gave him a stiff test, as I thought he would, but the 2019 Ring Magazine prospect of the year moves to 17-0 and 17 knockouts after delivering some beautiful body work. He says he’s ready for a world title shot, including against gym-mate Terence Crawford.
4. Seneisa Estrada: Ortiz will get the headlines, but Estrada is another absolutely fantastic young fighter who came down in weight and ended the SEVEN-YEAR reign of Anabel Ortiz for her WBA Minimumweight title. She said afterwards that she wants to unify 105, 108, then move to 112, which, goddamn, good to have goals.
5. Spencer Lee/Roman Bravo-Young/Nick Lee/Austin O’Connor/David Carr/Shane Griffith/Carter Starocci/Aaron Brooks/AJ Ferrari/Gable Steveson: The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships returned after being cancelled last year, and these are your champions. With the exception of Spencer Lee, these are all first-time world champions. As for Lee, he’ll go down as one of the best to ever do it on the collegiate mats, winning with a torn freaking ACL.
6. Derek Brunson: It didn’t stop Kevin Holland for talking throughout the entire fight, but Brunson did what Derek Brunson does, which is grind you down, which he did to Holland over five rounds, winning a wide decision in the main event on ESPN.
7. Tatsuya Tsubakihara: Proved his enormous upset of Yuki Egawa wasn’t a fluke, defeating him for the second time in six month, this time for Egawa’s K-1 Featherweight championship. Every great fighter has a particular fighter that’s their kryptonite, and this appears to be Yuki’s.
8. Lee McGregor: Absolutely tore through Karim Guerfi in Friday’s ESPN+ main event, ripping his EBU European strap from his hands in the first round after multiple knockdowns.
9. Regian Eersel: After ten rounds of Nieky Holzken, Eersel got a bit of a breather in this defense of his ONE Kickboxing Lightweight title, turning away Mustapha Haida with relative ease.
10. Elias Anderson: In triple overtime, Anderson found an armbar on Richard Alarcon to win the one-night 16-man bantamweight combat jiu jitsu tournament.
11. Victor Hugo: Earning a submission of the night bonus in the main event in a great day’s work for Hugo, slapping a heel hook on Tim Spriggs in the main event of Fight To Win 167.
12. Max Griffin: Griffin claimed to be a star, but he’s been a decision machine for years. Maybe this is the new Max Griffin following a terrific knockout of Song Kenan in the co-main event on ESPN, taking full advantage of the spotlight that was afforded to them after the Gillespie-Riddell fight being cancelled.
13. Leonard Garcia: And that appears to be a wrap for the Bad Boy, retiring from combat sports after earning a wide decision win in the main event over Joe Elmore at BKFC 16.
14. Maxi Hughes: Claimed the vacant BBBofC British Lightweight championship after an eighth-round TKO of Paul Hyland Jr. on ESPN+ Friday.
15. Chris Billam-Smith: The new WBA Continental Cruiserweight champion after a unanimous decision win over Vasil Ducar.
Honorable Mention:
Jordan Vucenic: In the last fight of the last card of Cage Warriors’s tripleheader, Vucenic won his sixth-straight fight, dethroning Morgan Charriere by split-decision at Cage Warriors 122.
Agy Sardari: Retained his Cage Warriors lightweight title by a very, very close split-decision over Donovan Desmae at Cage Warriors 121.
Hideaki Yamazaki
Sebastian Przybysz: Unseated Antun Racic by UD to become the new KSW bantamweight king.
Bruno Souza
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