1. Jan Blachowicz: Style: Unbent! Blachowicz was able to keep Israel Adesanya contained, both on the feet and on the ground to old-man muscle a decision win, defending his UFC Light Heavyweight championship and handing Adesanya his first professional MMA loss, and legitimizing himself in the eyes of many.
2. Amanda Nunes: If you, kind reader, were across the cage from the Women’s GOAT on Saturday, you might have put up more resistance than Megan Anderson did in her quest to dethrone Nunes of her UFC featherweight title. Nunes blew threw hair and may have even broken a sweat in doing so.
3. Claressa Shields: In typical Shields fashion, she faced little-to-no competition in her world title fight against Marie Eve Dicaire, finally unifying the junior middleweight division after capturing the IBF strap, becoming the first boxer in history to become unified champion in two divisions in the four-best era.
4. Tony Yoka: The 2016 Olympic gold medalist continued his march to world title contention, claiming the vacant EBU European strap, stopping Joel Tambwe Djeko, and as a bonus, he stopped him in the twelfth-round. I love a fighter who isn’t content to just ride out a decision and went for the stoppage.
5. Kang Ji Won: In an upset that I’m sure disappointed ONE in terms of their plans for him, Won starched gold-medalist world champion Greco-Roman wrestler Amir Aliakbari in the first round with a nasty counter.
6. Islam Makhachev: He’s maybe a tad overhyped due to his proximity to Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the results spoke for themselves after an absolutely dominant performance over a surging Drew Dober.
7. Brandon Adams: Pulled off the biggest upset of the week in the main event of Thursday’s Ring City, as a +255 underdog earned an eighth-round TKO of the previously undefeated Serhii Bohachuk.
8. Dominick Cruz: He’s still got it! Age and injuries have taken away most of his explosiveness, but the former P4P top-5 had tremendous footwork and movement mixed with crisp striking in defeating a very good young fighter in Casey Kenney on UFC 259.
9. Aleksandar Rakic: Turned away former UFC Light Heavyweight title contender (and certainly should have been champion) Thiago Santos over three dominant rounds on the UFC 259 main card.
10. Askar Askarov: That’s probably a wrap for Joseph Benavidez has a championship-level fighter. Askarov made JoeB look old, slow, and broken, as he landed at will, battering Benavidez’s face repeatedly and cruising to a shutout win.
11. Anatoly Malykhin: In the heavyweight co-main event of ONE: Fists of Fury II, Malykhin got Alexandre Machado to tape to strikes in the first round.
12. Kennedy Nzechukwu: In what was the Fight of the Night, Nzechukwu ended it by dropping Carlos Ulberg like a sack of hammers with a pinpoint right hand to the jaw.
13. Danielito Zorrila: In the co-main event of Thursday’s Ring City on NBC Sports, Zorrila stopped Ruslan Madiyev in the eighth round to claim the vacant WBO NABO Junior welterweight championship.
14. Jason Knight: Live from Biloxi on UFC Fight Pass, Knight earned a submission win in the main event of iKon 5 over Cliff Wright, taking his record to 21-6.
15. Yodsanklai Fairtex: Happy trails, Hero. And for the second time, one of the best to ever do it in muay thai, Yodsanklai Fairtex has called it a career. He retires with a career mark of 202-74-4 with armfuls of championships and accolades.
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