1. Jeison Rosario: At a momentous +1200 underdog, Rosario went Julian Williams’s backyard for his first title defense as a beatable opponent to kick off his reign, and took everything J-Rock had before laying a flurry, and having the ref jump in for a fifth-round TKO. Rosario is now the world champion at 154lbs for the WBA and IBF. A rematch probably happens, and Williams probably comes back more focused, but for now, Rosario is atop the mountain.
2. Conor McGregor: I can’t believe I’m agreeing with a Stephen A. MMA take, but by-god, he’s right and I’ve been thinking this since the fight. What did we really learn about Conor? He has a knew trick in shoulder strikes to break Cerrone’s nose? Ok, I suppose that’s something, but all that did was leave Cerrone wide open and vulnerable to strikes, which, of course McGregor was going to exploit and put him out with. We didn’t learn how he would defend Cerrone’s kick game, or what he would do to combat Cerrone’s dangerous BJJ game from the bottom. Much as the Aldo fight, it was a great spectacle, but all it did was show we won’t learn anything from it, and we’ll never get a chance to again.
3. Chris Colbert: The prospect overcame his biggest challenge to date, toppling former world champion Jezzrel Corrales in the co-main of PBC on FOX in his fourteenth professional fight, earning the interim WBA title for his trouble.
4. Eleider Alvarez: Took care of business and rebounded after his title fight rematch loss to Sergey Kovalev by stopping Michaels Seals in the 7th on ESPN proper.
5. Vladimir Shishkin: In the main event of the 250th edition of ShoBox, the Russian prospect put in the work and nearly pitched a shutout over Ulises Sierra.
6. Roxanne Modafferi: In the featured prelim on ESPN, Modafferi, a +550 underdog, absolutely outclassed uber-prospect Maycee Barber on the feet, on the ground, and in the head. A beautiful jab made Barber fall back and shred up her knee, and while it should have been stopped, and kudos to Barber’s toughness, but Roxy waltzed to an easy win.
7. Carlos Diego Ferreira: Since losing to Dustin Poirier in April of 2015, Ferreira has reeled off six wins, and at the age of 35, he’s never looked better. He tapped out former world champ Anthony Pettis at UFC 246, and in this shark tank of a division, he can’t be more than another win or two away from a shot. This was his gatekeeper to defeat, and her certainly did that, emphatically.
8. Luke Pletcher: The #1 ranked wrestler at 141lbs won an 11-3 decision over Wisconsin wrestler, #4 ranked Tristan Moran.
9. Kenia Enriquez: Defended her interim WBC World Female Junior Flyweight title for the FOURTH time. For the love of god, she’s had this interim title for over two and a half years, someone get Yesenia Gomez’s people on the phone and make this title unification happens.
10. Holly Holm: Well, it certainly wasn’t goddamned pretty at all, but it was effective. Holm didn’t give Raquel Pennington an inch of breathing room in the rematch to their 2015 fight. Pennington couldn’t get anything going, and Holm was on her like white on rice, smothering for en route to a dominant decision.
11. Steve Garcia Jr.: In the first LFA event of 2020, Garcia stopped Chepe Mariscal in the second round via TKO in the main event.
12. Shohjahon Ergashev: Like a goddamned gunshot in the co-main of Friday’s ShoBox, Ergashev landed a killshot to the body of Adrian Estrella, staying undefeated and progressing to 18-0 and 16 T/KOs.
13. Victor Hugo: Decisioned Nick Rodriguez in the main event of Fight To Win 135.
14. Deion Jumah: And still BBBofC English Cruiserweight champ after the ever-rare Sunday card in the UK.
15. Aleksei Oleinik: This was the most complete domination of a Moe Greene in Vegas since he layed down for that massage.
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