Fighters of the Week

  1. Terence Crawford: For the first time in just over a year, Bud returned to the ring and defended his WBO welterweight title against former world champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter with a questionable stoppage by Porter’s corner, but Crawford was winning that fight and had put Porter down multiple times. After the victory, that’ll do it for Terence Crawford’s Top Rank contract. His disappointment that Bob Arum couldn’t make a fight happen with Errol Spence Jr. has him ready to move on, and probably to Premier Boxing Champions, who has Spence in their stable.

  2. Kali Reis: Retained her WBA and IBO strap and gaining a the vacant WBO Junior Welterweight title with a win over Jessica Camara.

  3. Demetrius Andrade: Boo Boo has a tendency to take his foot off of the gas when he’s winning a fight, much to the annoyance of many boxing fans, but perhaps he’s turning over a new leaf, as he didn’t play with his food when he had Jason Quigley in trouble, but finishing him quickly and violently in a mandatory defense of his middleweight championship.

  4. Murodjon Akhmadaliev: Jose Velasquez was absolutely game, but the first Uzbek world champion held sway, pitching a near-shutout over Velasquez to retain his WBA and IBF world titles at junior featherweight.

  5. Ketlen Vieira: Quite the feather in Vieira’s cap to defeat a former world champion in Miesha Tate, as she did in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night, advancing to 12-2 and putting herself in the title hunt at 135lbs.

6. Sean Brady: Make that 15-0 for the Philly welterweight after his biggest win to date, a co-main event victory over Michael Chiesa.

7. Nathannael Fernandes/Diogo Reis/Pablo Lavaselli/Micael Galvao/Isaque Braz/Erich Munis/Gutemberg Pereira/Brenda Larissa/Ana Rodrigues/Beatriz Mesquita/Ingridd Sousa/Gabrieli Pessanha: Your black belt gold medal winners from the 2021 Abu Dhabi Pro Championships.

8. Tony Johnson Jr.: Still ACA’s heavyweight champion after a first-round TKO of Mukhomad Vakhaev at ACA 132’s main event slot.

9. Chico Kwasi: The interim champion has now fully climbed atop his throne, becoming the full-fledged King of Kings World Welterweight champion after defeating former lightweight champion Henrikas Viksraitis.

10. Mindaugas Narauskas: The new KOK Lightweight kingpin after a very close fight with number-one contender Mareks Pelcis.

11. Da’Mon Blackshear: Claimed the vacant bantamweight title at Cage Fury Fighting Championship 103 with a first-round RNC over Deandre Anderson.

12. Rena Kubota: In the main event of RIZIN 32 from Okinawa, Kubota stopped Miyuu Yamamoto with a second-round TKO.

13. Dante Leon: Your main event victor by decision at GrappleFest 10 over Oliver Taza.

14. Talia Santos: Earns a spot for being the only fighter to earn a finish at UFC Fight Night: Tate vs. Vieira, submitting Joanne Wood (nee: Calderwood).

15. Shawn Porter: That’ll be a career for “Showtime” Shawn Porter. He seems at peace with it and had thought about retiring since 2017, but wanted to hang around for his last big fight, which was Terence Crawford. He went out after leaving it all out on the canvas and can hold his head high walking into the sunset.