1. Chris Eubank Jr.: Reunited with his beloved IBO Super Middleweight title and finally has his marquee win over a former multiple-time world champion in James DeGale.
2. Anthony Dirrell: Of course, it ended weirdly, with a head clash and a technical decision, but Dirrell was the better fighter and claimed the WBC World Super Middleweight crown.
3. Thiago Santos: Four in a row, eight out of nine as I said in the Bulletin. Santos, after a long run, has at least earned the right to get tuned up by one of the half-dozen or so big dogs at the top of 185, but it’ll at least be a fresh matchup!
4. Stefan Struve: While he may never use his reach to his advantage like we’ve been hoping for a decade, he still has a crazy ground game with those mantis limbs and that earned him a submission win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima in the co-main of UFC Fight Night in Prague.
5. Brendan Allen: Is now a defending LFA middleweight champion after an absolute pasting of Moses Murrieta to the tune of 50-43, 50-43, and 50-42. After a win and the ever-rare LFA defense, Allen is due for a callup any time now.
6. Stamp Fairtex: That makes both the OneFC’s kickboxing AND muay thai atomweight championships around her shoulders, as the 21-year-old defeated accomplished American amateur fighter Janet Tood in the main event for the inaugural title at OneFC: Call to Greatness.
7. Davit Kiria: Kunlun Fight had a really good 70kg tournament lineup, and it was Kiria taking it all, narrowly edging out Marouan Toutouh in the finals on scores of 29-29, 28-29, 30-27, 30-29, and 30-29.
8. Yuri Simoes: It wasn’t the star-studded tournament we thought it was going to be, unfortunately. Kevin Casey isn’t exactly an adequate fill-in for Josh Barnett, but regardless, Simoes still took the Combat Jiu-Jitsu Absolute Championship tournament, defeating Stephen Martinez, then kneebarring Jon Blank in the finals.
9. Soufiane Kaddouri: Defended his Enfusion 63kg championship with one of the most brutal moves in the fight game, a goddamned spinning back kick over Andre Bruhl at Enfusion 78.
10. James Gallagher: He’s never going to the dominant Conor McGregor-esque fighter, lacking much in the ring and behind the mic, but he’s still a slick submission artist who can take down middling competition, which is exactly what he did in the main event of Bellator 217 in Dublin.
11. Mansour Barnaoui: Has a heavier wallet than yesterday after winning the finals of RoadFC’s $1,000,000 lightweight tournament, capping it off with a MONSTER knee KO.
12. Joe Joyce: Took the logical next step on his journey toward the world title-tier, stopping Bermaine Stiverne in the co-main event of the Eubank-DeGale card.
13. Humberto Soto: Soto came in as a 5-to-1 underdog and proceeded to go to battle with another warrior in Brandon Rios, and came out on top. By the by, Sergio Mora continues to be an absolute ass of a ref.
14. Roman Kryklia: The Kunlun Fight Heavyweight tournament champ, but it was a very, very weak field, so hence, he’s way down here.
15. Georges St. Pierre: Rarely do retirements stick in combat sports, but GSP has always been a cut above the usual carny tactics of his peers. His career can’t be merely summarized here, it speaks for itself, and I’ll be looking forward to what he does next.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
