1. Vasyl Lomachenko: Jorge Linares put on a damned fine performance, including sending Loma to the mat for the first time in his career, but in the end, Hi-Tech was just too much, and the first kingpin in the lightweight division has fallen.
2. Jaime Munguia: Stunned Sadam Ali but putting him on the canvas three times in four rounds and becoming the new WBO Junior Middleweight champion.
3. Ryan Bader: Good fucking golly. FIFTEEN SECONDS?! That’s how long it took for Bader to sleep Muhammed Lawal in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. The myth of King Mo is now long dead and buried.
4. Amanda Nunes: In a fight that should have been over much sooner (thanks to Raquel Pennington’s fuckstick corner, it wasn’t, unfortunately), Nunes was just in a class above, and is running out of contenders.
5. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong: Tyjani Beztati is credible, and he’ll be a serious threat in a couple years, but he’s not there yet, and Sitthichai showed what experience can do, retaining his Glory Lightweight championship.
6. Rey Vargas: Took care of business with a UD win over Azat Hovhannisyan on HBO to retain his WBC Junior featherweight strap.
7. Serhiy Adamchuk: After winning the Glory contender tournament, he’s in line to get another crack at his former Featherweight belt again.
8. Jahfarr Wilnis: Jamal Ben Saddik has only eight losses in his career. Brian Douwes, Rico Verhoeven, Peter Aerts, Daniel Ghita, Hesdy Gerges, Ben Edwards, ….and two losses to Jahfarr Wilnis. This is one of those scenarios where a “lesser” fighter just has the number of the better one.
9. Lyoto Machida: Vitor’s REALLY got to learn a defense for that front kick. Yikes. At any rate, if that’s a career for Belfort, he’s an absolute legend and trailblazer that’s earned every accolade he’s received for a Hall of Fame career.
10. Yoshitaka Naito: Regained his OneFC strawweight championship in a rematch with Alex Silva by a narrow split-decision in the main event of OneFC: Grit and Glory. A trilogy fight is probably right around the corner now.
11. Anissa Meksen: Still Glory’s Female Super Bantamweight champion after a workmanlike UD over fellow countrywoman Amel Dehby.
12. Cedric Doumbe: Doumced is a bad, bad man. Floored and finished Thongchai Sitsongpeenong is just 33 seconds of their Superfight Series headline bout at Glory 53.
13. Wang Wenfeng: Won Kunlun Fight’s one-night, eight-man 61.5kg World Championship tournament.
14. Aorigele/Gilbert Yvel/Oli Thompson/Chris Barnett/Kazuyuki Fujita: Advanced to the semifinals of RoadFC’s Openweight tournament, with Fujita as the alternate.
15. Tony Harrison: Took care of Bounce TV mainstay Ishe Smith in the main event of Friday’s PBC on Bounce show.
Honorable Mention:
Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao: Had an absolute gorgeous KO of Abdellah Ezbiri to open the Glory 53 main card, and may have another crack at the Glory featherweight title he failed to capture before soon.
Eliot Marshall: In the main event of Fight To Win Pro 74, Marshall heel hooked Stephen Hall and earned a Submission of the Night for his trouble.
Devin Haney
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