1. Francis Ngannou: All it took was one short uppercut to give one of the best heavyweights of all-time the jimmylegs and crumble in just twenty-six seconds.
2. Rob Brant: As per Brant’s MO, it was punches in bunches. Volume, volume, volume, as he battered Khasan Baysangurov over eleven rounds before earning a stoppage to retain his WBA world middleweight title in front of a raucous home Minnesota crowd.
3. Leo Santa Cruz: It wasn’t Miguel Flores, but all you can do is beat whoever is across the ring from you, and Santa Cruz did just that, cruising by Rafael Rivera with ease and retaining his WBA title, leading to some fantastic matchups next.
4. Chip Moraza-Pollard: Still undefeated, and still Lion Fight cruiserweight champion after a blowout of former WTKA champ Juan Cervantes at Lion Fight 51 on CBS Sports Saturday night.
5. Michael Page: SOMEONE’S. GOING. DOWN. lulz.
6. Vanessa Porto: And on her third attempt, and it was ended early due to an eye-poke, Porto has finally, finally, by-god finally (ht: Jim Ross, again) become Invicta champion. If I was booking Invicta, I’d go with a Porto-Pearl rematch and the Bennett-Rodriguez tourney finals on the same card. That’s a hell of a main and co-main.
7. Nong-O Gaiyanghadao: The Thai veteran and Lumpinee stadium champion became OneFC’s second muay thai champion after claiming the bantamweight strap.
8. Mahamed Aly: The BJJ heavyweight has been a champ all over the world, and now he’s a champion at Fight To Win, submitting Max Gimines with a Cross Choke, becoming F2W Black Belt Super Heavyweight champion and earning a tidy Submission of the Night bonus, as well.
9. Omar Figueroa Jr.: In a lively bout with fellow blood-and-guts fighter John Molina, Figueroa took a unanimous decision that was certainly closer than the ludicrous cards had that.
10. Julius Anglickas: Claimed the vacant LFA Light Heavyweight title most-recently held by Ryan Spann before he signed with the UFC. With the lack of depth at 205, Anglickas can probably be expecting a phone call.
11. Shohjahon Ergashev: Snuck by Mykal Fox for a close decision win in the main event of Friday’s ShoBox card.
12. DeAnna Bennett/Karina Rodriguez: Your flyweight tournament semifinal winners at Invicta FC 34, both winning by decision. With Invicta filling their flyweight title vacancy, we have some depth in the division now.
13. Jo Nattawut: In a very underrated matchup, Nattawut earned a UD over Samy Sana, one of France’s best fighters at OneFC: Clash of Legends.
14. Garrett Aldrich: In Fight To Win’s second-ever judo matchup, in another battle of black belts, it was Aldrich defeating Jesse Butler via submission in the Fight of the Night.
t15. Mirko Cro Cop: Avenged his 2011 loss to Roy Nelson with a workmanlike, if not a tad boring, win in the co-main of Bellator 216.
t15. Vicente Luque/Bryan Barberena: These two m’fers went to absolute war and combined for a solid choice for an early Fight of the Year candidate.
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