1. Rey Vargas: Vargas pitched a repeat of their last meeting, ten years ago, as amateurs, with a decision win that was never really a contest in question. That’s now 34-0 for, perhaps, the best junior featherweight in the world.
2. Ryoto Murata: Whether Murata was underestimating Rob Brant in their first encounter, or it was just Brant’s night, Murata righted that wrong emphatically on Friday from Japan, finishing Brant in less than two rounds, reclaiming his WBA title for his effort.
3. Ken Shiro: Disposed of his mandatory challenger, Jonathan Taconing, in the fourth round on ESPN+ to retain his WBC Junior Flyweight championship.
4. Julia Budd: And still Bellator Women’s Featherweight champion after a nasty body kick that left Olga Rubin vulnerable with her hands down to get finished with punches, handing Rubin her first career loss.
5. Urijah Faber: I didn’t give Faber a hope in icy hell of winning even a round against a buzzsaw like Ricky Simon, but lo and behold, 40-year-old Faber ran through Simon like a hot knife through butter. He may very well be invigorated, and I wouldn’t want to throw him into a title fight, but he’s a HOFer and if he can keep it up, he’ll make a great fun attraction on the senior circuit or to be the super, super gatekeeper.
6. Ronny Rios: In the biggest upset of the weekend, Rios, a 5-to-1 underdog, spoiled a coming-out party for Diego De La Hoya, handing Oscar’s son his first pro loss in the co-main of the huge Golden Boy on DAZN card.
7. Jamal James: That’s six in a row for James after his loss to Yordenis Ugas following a UD win over veteran Antonio DeMarco in the main event of Saturday’s PBC on FS1 card.
8. Josh Emmett: Put Mirsad Bektic on his wallet with a stiff jab, then finished him with extreme prejudice, making it three knockout wins in his last four fights, and derailing the Mirsad Bektic hype train for good.
9. Shakur Stevenson: The hope and hype for Shakur is sky-high, and at least in his last bout on Saturday, he certainly didn’t disappoint. The bright lights of the main event on ESPN proper, not ESPN+, ESPN2, or ESPN3 wasn’t too daunting for Stevenson who flattened veteran Alberto Guevara in the third round.
10. Jason Jackson: Claimed the vacant LFA welterweight championship with a split-decision win over journeyman veteran Hemerson Souza in the main event of LFA 71.
11. Sarah Kaufman/Andre Fialho/Magomed Magomedkerimov/Kayla Harrison/Joao Zeferino/John Howard/Glaico Franca/David Michaud/Larissa Pacheco/Genah Fabian: All earned wins in PFL’s recent event in the welterweight and women’s lightweight tournament, and it couldn’t have come at a better time, since the playoffs were made after this card. Easy work for Kaufman and Fialho, who won their bouts on the scale, as their opponents missed weight.
12. Geovanny Martinez/Kyle Chambers/Kyle Boehm/Elvira Karppinen: 10th Planet defeated Red Bowie 4-1 in the 5 vs. 5 team grappling matchup at SUBVERSIV 2 on Saturday, and these were your 10th Planet victors.
13. Joe Solecki/Antonio Trocoli/Hunter Azure/Maki Pitolo/Jonathan Pierce: All five winners from Tuesday’s Dana White Contender Series earned UFC contracts.
14. Michelle Nicolini: Picked up the biggest win of her MMA career, as the world champion grappler defeated dynamo Angela Lee by unanimous decision in the co-main of OneFC: Masters of Destiny.
t15. Arlen Blencowe: At just 22 seconds, Blencowe knocked out Amanda Bell, earning her second stoppage win since losing to Julia Budd via a split-decision. The women’s featherweight division in general, but especially in Bellator, needs competitors, and Blencowe, who’s lost to Budd via majority-decision and split-decision, seems like a great story for a trilogy, again, in a division starved for stories, fighters, and action.
t15. Chad Mendes: The former “Moneyshot” has called it a career after nearly eleven years and a hell of a run in WEC and UFC.
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