1. Nick Lee: In the only #1 vs. #2 matchup in the NCAA wrestling scene of the weekend, Lee battled back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Ohio State’s top-ranked Luke Pletcher 8-4 in helping #2 Penn State defeat #3 Ohio State 20-16 at the Bryce Jordan Center at PSU Saturday night.
2. Caleb Plant: Plant was defending his super middleweight championship against Vincent Feigenbutz, making his American debut, in front of his home crowd, and Plant put an ever-loving shellacking on the German. Feigenbutz had absolutely no answer to the bigger, stronger, rangier American, and Plant pummeled him until a merciful stop in the tenth round.
3. Jan Blachowicz: Well, THAT certainly didn’t go as I expected. In the rematch between Blachowicz and Corey Anderson, whom he lost to in September 2015, Blachowicz face-planted Anderson, winning the rematch emphatically, and don’t look now, but Jan’s last three wins are over Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza, and brutally avenging his loss to Anderson, and has won seven of his last eight, four by stoppage.. 205 needs all the help it can get, and we have a genuine rivalry, here.
4. Kaynan Duarte: In the main event of Fight To Win 136, Duarte became of the Fight To Win Black Belt Heavyweight No-Gi champion.
5. Ryan Garcia: Garcia, and his 4.8 million Instagram followers, in case you haven’t heard, took care of Francisco Fonseca in the first round on Golden Boy’s DAZN card as his push to the moon continues.
6. Abel Ramos: The stoppage was unbelievably strange (what was the ref looking for Perella to do? Jump up and down? Play the kazoo?), but Ramos’s fighting spirit, going for it until the literal last second despite being way down on the cards paid off for him, and there’s something to be said for giving it everything you have to not leave it to the judges.
7. Isaac Cruz Gonzalez: Upset Thomas Mattice via majority decision in the main event on ShoBox, Friday.
8. Jena Bishop: And still the Fight To Win women’s bantamweight champion after defeating Gabbi McComb in the co-main of Fight To Win 136.
9. Hector Lombard: Made a successful Bare Knuckle Boxing debut, defeating David Mundell in the main event, shockingly going the distance.
10. Daniel Rodriguez: Pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend, as a +265 underdog, clamped on a standing guillotine on Tim Means in the featured prelim on ESPN+.
11. Gable Stevenson: The #1-ranked heavyweight in the country did his part, defeating #3-ranked Tony Cassioppi, but couldn’t do enough, as his Minnesota Golden Gophers lost to Iowa, 35-6.
12. John Dodson: He’s not dead yet! I absolutely thought that Dodson’s power was gone, his game was fading, and he was a pure gatekeeper for the next generation of hungry young fighters like Nathaniel Wood, and then he goes and posts a TKO.
13. Jorge Linares: Took care of business, knocking out Carlos Morales on Friday’s DAZN card, as he tries to rehab his image after the stunning knockout loss to Pablo Cesar Cano.
14. Lando Vannata: In the battle of two gunslingers and bonus grabbers, it was Vannata getting the best of Yancy Medeiros, kicking off the main card from UFC Rio Ranchero.
15. Jim Alers: Might have found his calling in Bare Knuckle fighting. The man just keeps winning and winning.
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