1. Emmanuel Rodriguez: Well, good news, bad news. Rodriguez advanced past a game Jason Maloney to advance in the World Boxing Super Series and retained his IBF world championship. Awaiting him? An absolutely terrifying 118-lb Japanese man.
2. Rob Brant: In a fairly big upset, Brant routed Ryota Murata on ESPN+ and claimed Murata’s WBA “regular” title along with it.
3. Tevin Farmer: James Tennyson just had absolutely nothing for Farmer, who closed him out with a fifth-round KO in the main event of the DAZN card at TD Garden, retaining his IBF crown at 130lbs.
4. Demetrious Andrade: Boo Boo is a world champion in his second weight class, claiming the vacant WBO World Middleweight crown after putting Walter Kautondokwa on his wallet over and over again. He made it to the bell, but Andrade put a beating on him.
5. Yunier Dorticos: Rebounded after losing his WBA title in last season’s WBSS Cruiserweight semifinals with a UD win over Poland’s Mateusz Masternak to advance to the semifinals for the second season in a row.
6. Ray Cooper III/Magomed Magomedkerimov/Abuspiyan Magomedov/Louis Taylor: The final four contestants that advance to the PFL Finals on New Year’s Eve. Cooper once again Jake Shields’s kryptonite, this time TKOing him in the first, rather than the second.
7. Ross Houston: It was the tenured champion against the hotshot, undefeated challenger, and both men gave it all in a firefight. The champion fought valiantly, but Houston stayed undefeated and is the Cage Warriors welterweight champion.
8. JT Torres: In the main event of Fight to Win Pro 90, Torres retained his black belt Welterweight championship after an armbar over Dylan Royce.
9. Baret Yoshida: The BJJ ace earned a Submission of the Night over Kristian Woodmansee to become the F2W Black Belt Bantamweight No-Gi champ.
10. Felipe Micheletti: In what was, on paper after the Grigorian pullout, the most competitive fight on the Glory 60 card, it was Micheletti shutting down Zinedine Hameur-Lain after the first-round in the main event of the Superfight Series.
11. Chris Gutierrez: In a battle of bantamweight contenders in the main event of LFA 52, it was Gutierrez getting the win via RNC in the first round over Ray Rodriguez.
12. Cedric Doumbe: No, it wasn’t against Harut Grigorian, couple-days fill-in Jimmy Vienot, and he couldn’t finish him, BUT, you can only face who lines up across from you, and Doumced took care of what needed taken care of.
13. Takashi Sato: In Pancrase’s 300th event, it was Sato to finished Matt Vaile in the second round, surely sending the home crowd happy at the milestone event for the OG of mixed martial arts.
14. Kid Galahad: The Kid is now 24-0 after defeating a live dog in Toka Khan Clary on the DAZN Boston undercard.
15. Katie Taylor: Took care of business in Boston, defended her titles over Cindy Serrano, while Serrano’s trainer/hypeman seems to be angling towards a bout with her younger and more accomplished sister, Amanda.
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