1. Cedric Doumbe: Say it loud, say it proud, Doumced is back on top in Glory. After having to go 4-1 after losing his title just to get another shot, Doumbe smashed Harut Grigorian inside a round to reclaim a little he lost by the slimmest of margains and had to fight for a year and a half to get another crack.
2. Dmitry Bivol: Joe Smith Jr. is a live competitor and was vying for his first world championship, but aside from a late rally, Bivol, while not being incredibly flashy or impressive, was clearly the better fighter, and retained his WBA Light Heavyweight championship.
3. Junior dos Santos: He’s not dead yet! dos Santos TKO’d Derrick Lewis, effectively nuking any momentum Lewis had, and don’t look now, but that’s three in a row for JDS…
4. Anissa Meksen: Meksen retained her Glory Women’s Super Bantamweight, but she did it by the slimmest of margins against Tiffany van Soest, adding more fuel to the fire of their budding rivalry.
5. Yuta Kubo/Yuta Murakkoshi/Sina Karimian: Four K-1 titles were on the line at K’Festa 2, and three were defended successfully with wins over Yasuhiro Kido, Hirotaka Urabe, and Hisaki Kato, respectively.
6. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos: In a tussle of two red-hot UFC welterweights, who had won a combined nine UFC bouts in a row, it was dos Santos putting away Millender via RNC in just the first round. He is on an unbelievable tear, winning seven bouts in a row, many spectacularly, and has to be in line for a big-name title eliminator.
7. Zebaztian Kadestam: After two rounds, the corner of Georgiy Kichigin had seen enough, which doesn’t happen NEARLY enough in MMA, and Kadestam retained his OneFC welterweight championship in the main event of Reign of Valor.
8. Chris Jenkins: In the biggest upset of the week, Jenkins defeated Johnny Garton to take his BBBofC British Welterweight championship. Jenkins came in as a +400 dog.
9. Maurice Hooker: Well, all you can do is beat the opponent across from you, and while Mikkel LesPierre isn’t even close to being at world title pace, Hooker took care of business, not finishing, though, but taking a wide UD win and retaining his WBO title at 140lbs.
10. Yuri Simoes: In a small upset, Simoes decisioned Rafael Lovato Jr. in the main event of Fight To Win Pro 104 in Dallas.
11. Nathiely de Jesus: In a battle of two of the best female grapplers in the world, it was de Jesus getting the best of Talita Nogueira, earning a Submission of the Night bonus for her solid work.
12. Liam Williams: Defended his BBBofC British Middleweight title in the main event of Friday’s ESPN+ card from Kensington. Since losing back-to-back tilts with Liam Smith, that’s four wins in a row for Williams, who is on the way back towards world title contention again.
13. Nicolas Dalby: In the main event of Cage Warriors 103, Dalby and Alex Lohore went into the championship rounds before Dalby stopped it via TKO in the fourth, taking home the Cage Warriors interim welterweight strap.
14. Mayssa Bastos/Ana Rodrigues/Ffion Diaves/Thamara Silva/Gabrieli Pessanha/Carlos Oliveira/Joao Gabriel Batista de Sousa/Paulo Miyao/Max Lindblad/Lucas Barbosa/Kaynan Duarte/Ricardo Evangelista: Black belt gold medalists at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam London event.
15. Tenshin Nasukawa: Made his first fighting appearence since whatever the hell that was with Floyd Mayweather on New Year’s in the RISE 58kg tournament, and proceeded to do Tenshin shit like this en route to winning in the main event and advancing.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
