1. Jamal James: In PBC’s return to FOX, James claimed the vacant interim WBA Welterweight championship over Thomas Dulorme in boxing’s return to network TV since the shutdown.
2. Derrick Lewis: After a two-fight setback, Lewis has rebounded with his third straight win, TKOing Aleksei Oleinik and avoiding his wily submission game in the main event in UFC Apex.
3. Michael Chandler: Defeated Benson Henderson for the second time, but there was no split-decision this time out. No, no, Chandler overwhelmed Bendo, leaving him face-down on the canvas and away from Henderson’s judges’ scorecards wizardry.
4. David Morrell: In just his third professional fight, the decorated amateur is now the interim WBA champion at 168lbs, defeating Lennox Allen in the co-main on FOX.
5. Rob Morrow: Won XFN’s eight-man heavyweight tournament that featured some of the biggest names in heavyweight kickboxing Friday on UFC Fight Pass.
6. Beneil Dariush: Overcame two eyepokes in the first round to pepper up Scott Holtzman before finishing him with a nasty spinning forearm, his fourth different finish in his last four fights and fifth-cosecutive win in total. With his exciting finishes and hot streak, he’s due for a big matchup coming up.
7. Lucas Santamaria: Mykal Fox is a 6’4″ welterweight with a win over an Olympic gold medalist. Santamaria was an unheralded +750 underdog. It didn’t even take a full round for Santamaria to floor Fox en route to a major upset victory.
8. Kai Asakura: RIZIN ran back-to-back shows on Sunday and Monday, with the Monday headliner being a clash for the vacant bantamweight championship, with Asakura defeating longtime JMMA vet Hiromasa Ougikubo by some serious violence.
9. Dustin Jacoby/Uros Medic/Jordan Leavitt: Earned a UFC contract after impressing at Dana White’s Contender Series. In Jacoby’s case, it’ll be a return to the UFC after an eight-year hiatus.
10. Natasha Jonas/Terri Harper: These two women had an absolute barnburner of a fight at Matchroom Fight Camp, and I was proven wrong by saying it wouldn’t come near Cheeseman-Eggington. It ended in a split-draw, despite Harper being a -1000 favorite, and they’ve got to run it back now and hopefully in primetime in front of a crowd where they belong.
11. Chris Billam-Smith: Made short work defending his British Commonwealth Cruiserweight title, dropping Nathan Thorley thrice in under two rounds.
12. Chris Weidman: Put in two terrific rounds, then one awful round in the third. Not great for a championship fighter used to fighting five rounds. Nevertheless, got off the schneid with a desperately-needed win over Omari Akhmedov.
13. Timothy Johnson: Matt Mitrione will never find any shortage on how to lose fights, and Johnson capitalized on that in the co-main of Bellator 243.
14. Vito Mielnicki Jr.: The 18 year-old super-prospect continued to impress, scoring a second-round KO over Chris Rollins on the Fox Sports 1 on Saturday.
15. Amirkhan Adaev: Was the main event victor in ACA’s return card in Chechnya, winning a UD over Vener Galiev.
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