1. Sergey Kovalev: Kovalev and Anthony Yarde put on a hell of a performance, but Yarde was so lacking in refinement, conditioning and secondary tools, that, even though he won, the Kovy that showed up would get murdered by his rumored next opponent, one Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
2. Kosei Tanaka: Jonathan Gonzalez poured it on early in Japan trying to go after Tanaka’s WBO Flyweight championship, but eventually, Tanaka was able to right the ship and bring the fight late, stopping him in the 7th.
3. Juan Francisco Estrada: Held sway in retaining his WBC World Junior Bantamweight title against a very overmatched, but surprisingly game opponent in Dewayne Beamon in Mexico on DAZN.
4. Sergei Kharitonov: I said in the preview that Kharitonov was getting too far from his sambo background and falling too much in love with his hands, like older fighters tend to. Well lo and behold, doesn’t the Paratrooper bring back the knee and uses it to finish Matt Mitrione in an upset in the main event of Bellator 225.
5. Brandon Figueroa: Still the interim WBA Junior Featherweight champion after a thorough pasting of Javier Nicolas Chacon. The prospect defeated the old veteran, looking for one more chance at glory. The truest stories aren’t always the most romantic. Now let’s get a damned unification bout with Daniel Roman so we can kill off this interim title.
6. Wilfredo Mendez: In the only world title to change hands this weekend, Mendez took the WBO World Minimumweight strap from Victorio Saludar in San Juan.
7. Jason Soares: Another dominant defense of his Titan FC welterweight championship. He’s now 14-0 and someone desperately needs to sign this dude. He’s in his prime, a blast to watch, clearly undermatched, and couldn’t be more ready.
8. Roberto Cyborg Abreu: Won a loaded Heavyweight Grand Prix at the IBJJF World Masters Tournament, felling Victor Hugo, Lucas Barbosa, and Joao Gabriel Rocha in one day.
9. Shakhram Giyasov: Made quick damned work of former interim world champion Darleys Perez in 41 seconds, when the quickest Perez was ever finished was the fifth-round. It was a demolition of a gatekeeper for the Olympic silver-medalist and red-hot prospect.
10. Ilunga Makabu: Despite being the defending champion, Makabu was the underdog to the undefeated kickboxer-turned-boxer Aleksei Papin, and Makabu put everything he had into defending his secondary strap, and despite being hurt late, hung out to eek out a majority decision in the co-main of Kovalev-Yarde.
11. Vladimir Shishkin: In what was a competitive main event on paper in the main event on ShoBox, Shishkin turned it into a laugher. In his American debut, he was on DeAndre Ware like a cheap suit and battered him relentlessly until a merciful stoppage in the eighth. He improves to 9-0.
12. Kouzi: In the main event of K-1’s Grand Prix, Kouzi and Tatsuya Oiwa went the distance and more, needing an extension round, and even that ended in a split-decision. So, by the closest wins imaginable, Kouzi ended on top.
13. Shohjahon Ergashev: The undefeated prospect from Uzbekistan was slotted for a showcase slot in the co-main of ShoBox and BOY DID HE SHOWCASE. Four rounds of punches in bunches demolished Abdiel Ramirez before it was called off. That’s now 15 KOs out of 17 wins for the junior welterweight.
14. Washington Luis/Gabriel Afonso dos Santos Moraes/Jose Tiago da Silva/Breno Abreu Bittencourt/Victor Henrique Silva Oliveira/Marcos Vinicius/Nick Schrock/Igor Silva/Gustavo Dias Elias/Kristina Sofia Barlaan/Karen Antunes/Nicole Sullivan/Chelsah Lyons/Claudia Fernanda Onofre Doval/Fabiana Pereira Santos/Talita Nogueira: Your 2019 World Masters IBJJF World Championship black belt winners. Extra kudos for Elias and Nogueira for winning their respective open classes.
t15. Philip Rowe: The lone recipient of a UFC contract from Tuesday night’s Dana White’s Contender Series.
t15. Aviv Gozali: Fastest sub in Bellator history is quite a feat.
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