1. Devin Haney: JoJo Diaz was game, and brought enough pressure to keep the champ honest, but Haney just had too much for the challenger and retained his WBC title at lightweight. Next up, George Kambosos?
2. Sergio Pettis: The highly anticipated bantamweight championship showdown in Bellator between champion Sergio Pettis and challenger Kyoji Horiguchi delivered in spades. Horiguchi had won all three rounds from the champion, but in the championship rounds, Pettis delivered a lightning-quick backfist that put the challenger out cold on the mat. Was it luck? Was it strategic? I want to see them match up again for five rounds.
3. Jose Aldo: The World is (still) His, as Scarface cruised to a third-straight win, stopping Rob Font’s momentum into title contention and keeping his own hopes for one last title reign alive.
4. Gervonta Davis: It wasn’t Rolly Romero, but Isaac Cruz is a solid fighter and a huge test that Tank passed to retain his WBA title at lightweight.
5. Regian Eersel: After a five-round split decision over Islam Murtazaev, Eersel escaped with his ONE Kickboxing Lightweight title in the main event of ONE: Winter Warriors.
6. Jessica McCaskill: You can only fight who lines up across from you, and Kandi Wyatt was a late and underqualified replacement for McCaskill, but Jessica held sway, putting her away in the 7th to put Wyatt down and retain her litany of belts at welterweight.
7. Hiromi Wajima: After falling short to Minoru Kimura in the 2020 Super Middleweight Championship Tournament finals, he took Kimura’s title after flattening the Brazilian with a body kick.
8. Kerman Lejarraga: Still the EBU European Junior Middleweight champion after a thunderous knockout over Jack Flatley in Spain on DAZN.
9. Anthony Yarde: Viciously avenged his split-decision loss to Lyndon Arthur 364 days later, knocking him out into the ropes, handing him his first professional loss and taking his secondary and British titles.
10. Taito Gunji: It took an extra round to do it, but the 22-year-old is a K-1 champion, defeating Tatsuya Tsubakihara for his featherweight strap.
11. Luis Alberto Lopez: Handed Isaac Lowe his first professional loss after a body shot knockout in the main event of Friday’s UK ESPN+ card.
12. Steve Walker: In front of a hometown Boston crowd, Walker retained his Lion Fight World Super Cruiserweight title, remaining undefeated after a unanimous decision over Ivan Bartek.
13. Sebastian Fundora: The 6’6″ junior middleweight stayed undefeated, handing Sergio Garcia his first loss in the co-main event of Sunday’s PBC Pay-Per-View.
14. Oliver Taza: Was the last man standing in a one-night, 16-man 185lb grappling tournament at Emerald City Invitational 3.
15. Josh Silveira: Captured vacant LFA championships with unanimous decision wins in the middleweight and bantamweight divisions, respectively.
Honorable Mention:
Rafael Fiziev
Richard Palencia
Stamp Fairtex
Jamahal Hill
Carlos Adames
Lucas Browne
Washington Dos Santos:
Serhiy Sidey
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
