1. Errol Spence Jr.: Made Mikey Garcia, an incredibly dynamic fighter over his career, look like he was fighting underwater. His size, his jab, and his length stymied anything Garcia tried to do, advancing his status by a ton.
2. Tevin Farmer: Had the opportunity to defend his IBF World Junior Lightweight championship in his hometown in Philadelphia for the first time, handing Jono Carroll his first loss in the main event of a surprisingly-entertaining card on DAZN.
3. Jorge Masvidal: Starched Darren Till in the main event in London, then took out Leon Edwards after it! Masvidal has had a remarkable career in the UFC, and while there are more fighters in front of him in line for a title shot, he’s one of those guys who you can plug in anywhere on the card, expect a battle, and can take out anyone on any given fight day.
4. Katie Taylor: Collected her third world women’s lightweight title with a ninth-round TKO over Rose Volante. The only remaning one rests on the lightweight final boss, Delfine Persoon.
5. David Benavidez: Back from his “13 months off”, as was captioned in the weigh-ins, Benavidez looked downright brilliant throttling J’Leon Love on the real quick in the Garcia-Spence co-main event. Next up should be the title he lost up his nose.
6. Kosei Tanaka: In a bout that should have been broadcasted or streamed SOMEWHERE, Tanaka defended his WBO flyweight championship in Japan over Ryoichi Taguchi.
7. Michael Conlan: The Irish bronze-medalist main event a St. Patty’s card from Madison Square Garden, and while it wasn’t the most exciting or punishing showing of all-time, he remains undefeated, and this is a nice showing for his brand and American appeal.
8. Rafael Lovato Jr.: Earned a decision from Jake Shields in an All-American main event at Polaris Pro 9.
9. Dominick Reyes: That’s 5-0 in the UFC and 11-0 overall in the shallowest division in MMA after his toughest test yet, a split-decision over Volkan Oezdemir. Light Heavyweight desperately needs new blood, Anthony Smith utterly failed to make any impact in his title fight with Jon Jones, so Reyes could be the next rising star.
10. Michael Graves: In lieu of Juan Puerta being pulled at the last second for the herb, so Graves and Jared Gooden were the erstat main event, and Graves claimed the Interim welterweight title. Why on Earth Titan needs interim titles, beyond me.
11. Luis Collazo: In a matchup of two battle-tested veteran welterweights on St. Patty’s Day at MSG, it was Collazo that escaped by split-decision in the co-main event.
12. Ffion Davies: Keep an eye on Davis, a quickly-rising star in BJJ. She only earned her black belt late last year, and is on a tear, making a name for herself, and she earned her biggest win to date Friday, slapping on a katagatame on Gezary Matuda, one of the best in the world, at Polaris Pro 9.
13. Rafael Dias: Remained the Bantamweight King of Pancrase after a first-round rear-naked-choke of Kenta Takizawa in the main event of Pancrase 303 on UFC Fight Pass.
14. Isaque Bahiense: In the Fight of the Night, Bahiense defeated Vitor Oliveira in the main event of Fight To Win Pro 105.
15. Scott McCann: Another Fight To Win card, more black belt Judo, and in Fight To Win 105, the McCann defeated Michael Ballestero in the only judo black belt bout of the evening.
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