1. Errol Spence Jr.: We’re rolling into October, so let me make a Halloween simile. After Errol Spence Jr.’s split-decision win over Shawn Porter, we had a Halloween basket full of treats to choose from. We had the top choice in the whole bag, the King-Sized Butterfinger (Terence Crawford), we had the solid, always-reliable mini-bag of M&Ms (Manny Pacquiao), maybe even the strange, exciting candy that the foreign neighbors handed out with the weird marks over the letters (Kudratillo Abdukakhorov), but no. Instead we get the box of raisins in the welterweight division, Danny freaking Garcia. It’s booked and dated. I know PBC and Top Rank won’t work together on this fight, and PBC has plenty of “name” welterweights, but c’mon man, let’s actually follow up with excitement for once.
2. David Benavidez: Reclaimed the WBC title at 168lbs that he lost due to a coke suspension, so hopefully he’s on the up and up and we’re in for a star-making reign.
3. Augusto Mendes/Jonathan Torres/Mattheus Diniz/Gordon Ryan/Kaynan Duarte/Bianca Basili/Gabi Garcia: Your 2019 ADCC Gold Medalists. Extra credit to Ryan for winning their absolute class.
4. Jared Cannonier: What the fuck do we do about Jared Cannonier? Here’s the facts on Cannonier. The plus? He’s won his last three, all by TKO, including a win over one of the best over in Anderson Silva and a main event win over Jack Hermansson in Hermansson’s home country. That’s not up for debate. The cons? He’s 4-3 in his last seven, he’s 35 years old. Are they going to book him for a legit push? He’s unpredictable and can vary whenever he’s in the cage. Is he just on a good run, or has he turned the corner? Those are the questions concerning him, and what will be curious going forward.
5. Daniel Weichel/Darrion Caldwell/AJ McKee/Patricio Freire: These four favorites advanced in the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix. Credit to Pitbull for going five rounds and defending the featherweight championship while advancing, and credit for AJ McKee for going 8 full seconds.
6. Gegard Mousasi: Five and a half years later, Mousasi gets his revenge on Lyoto Machida after a split-decision win in the main event of Bellator 228. I feel there’s a rubber match that’s easy to book for Bellator going forward with those two.
7. Benson Henderson: In a battle of longtime UFC lightweights, Bendo Bendo’ed his way to a shutout over Myles Jury in the main event of Bellator 227.
8. Alex Pereira: Unfortunately, even Glory has fallen victim to the interim title plague. Nevertheless, Alex Pereira is a longtime Glory middleweight champion, and he’ll make an awesome Light Heavyweight champ, too.
9. Mario Barrios: Barrios wanted to bring a world title to San Antonio, and did just that, handing Batyr Akhmedov his first career pro loss.
10. Daniel Dubois: In the main event of ESPN+’s Friday UK card, Dubois flattened Ebenezer Tetteh in the very first round, handing Tetteh his first career loss and claiming the International Heavyweight Title for the WBO, and advancing to 13-0.
11. Mark Madsen: Impressive debut for the Olympic silver medalist wrestler in front of his home country in the co-main event. We knew he was matched up with a striker in Danilo Belluardo. I predicted Madsen to win, but said he would need to take Belluardo down and finish him on the ground. Welp, that’s exactly what happened and two rounds sooner than it did. This is Khabib-level.
12. Tiffany van Soest: Like the UFC Light Heavyweight division in the day with Liddell, Ortiz, and Couture, or the longtime Bellator featherweight division of Straus, Curran, and Pitbull, the Glory Women’s Super Bantamweight division trades the crown between three women: van Soest, Anissa Meksen, and Jady Menezes. Timebomb notched a solid win over Menezes, narrowing the title picture even more.
13. Josesito Lopez: Both fighters promised action, and they did deliver in the Spence-Porter PPV opener, and they did deliver, especially on Lopez’s part, who dropped Molina twice and absolutely battered him a round or two later than he should have. Fighting corners remain the worst.
14. Tom Aspinall: It took under a minute for the main event of Cage Warriors 107 to end, via a knockout from Aspinall over fellow heavyweight Mickael Ben Hamouda.
15. Salimkhan Sadulloev: Sadulloev TKO’d Yusuke Kasuya in the second-round in the main event of Pancrase 308.
Honorable Mention:
Lina Lansberg
Asa Ten Pow
Antonio McKee: After a five-year absence from the sport, McKee returned to fight on the same card as his son, AJ, and against all odds, the king of decision wins finished his fight via TKO at age 49.
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