As always, programming is listed in EST
Live fights are in BOLD.
Premiere programming is in ITALICS.
MMA programming is in ORANGE.
Boxing programming is in RED.
Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Karate programming is in BLUE.
Wrestling/Jiu Jitsu/Grappling programming is in PURPLE.
Misc./Combination combat sports programming is in GREEN.
Friday December 7
1:00am: Top Rank on ESPN: Best of Lomachenko (ESPN2)
5:30am: OneFC: Destiny of Champions Prelims (Facebook)
7:30am: OneFC: Destiny of Champions (OneFC App)
8:00am: Enfusion Live 58/59 ($5.68 Cleeng.com)
9:00am: 2018 VAC National Holiday Duals (FloWrestling)
10:00am: TATNEFT Cup 2018 Finals ($3.99 EliteBoxing.tv)
10:00am: 2018 Walsh Jesuit Ironman (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: Fightstar Fighting Championship 37 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
1:00pm: Lomachenko vs. Pedraza Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
6:00pm: Michigan vs. Indiana (BigTen)
6:00pm: TKO 45 (UFC Fight Pass)
6:00pm: UFC 231 Weigh-Ins (UFC Fight Pass/Fox Sports 1)
6:45pm: Triumph Kombat 5 Prelims (FREE Fite.tv)
7:00pm: Illinois vs. Northern Illinois (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Navy vs. Maryland (FloWrestling)
8:30pm: Fight To Win Pro 96 (FloGrappling)
8:30pm: Triumph Kombat 5 ($19.99 Fite.tv)
9:00pm: Legacy Fighting Alliance 56 (AXS)
9:00pm: Combate Americas: Copa Combate (DAZN)
9:00pm: Unified MMA 35 ($19.99 Fite.tv)
11:35pm: Antonio Moran vs. Edson Ramirez/Giovani Garcia Barragan vs. Rene Santiago (Telemundo)
Saturday December 8
4:00am: Gaige Ireland vs. Jacob Ng/Josh Frederiksen vs. Quintin Carey ($14.95 Epicentre.tv)
9:00am: 2018 VAC National Holiday Duals (FloWrestling)
10:00am: 2018 Walsh Jesuit Ironman (FloWrestling)
11:00am: Brave 19 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
12:00pm: Glory 62 Superfight Series (UFC Fight Pass)
1:30pm: Extreme Fighting Championship 76 (DAZN)
1:30pm: Hafenkeilerei 7 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
2:00pm: Columbia vs. VMI (ESPN+)
2:00pm: Glory 62 (ESPNEWS)
2:00pm: Kell Brook vs. Michael Zerafa/David Avanesyan vs. Josh Kelly (DAZN)
4:00pm: Cage Warriors 100 (UFC Fight Pass)
6:00pm: Top Rank on ESPN Undercard Prelims (ESPN+)
6:15pm: UFC 231 Prelims (UFC Fight Pass)
7:00pm: Wyoming vs. North Dakota State (FloWrestling)
8:00pm: UFC 231 Prelims (Fox Sports 1)
8:00pm: Shamrock Fighting Championship 313 (FloCombat)
8:30pm: Lehigh vs. Iowa (FloWrestling)
9:00pm: Jose Pedraza vs. Vasyl Lomachenko/Emanuel Navarrete vs. Isaac Dogboe (ESPN)
9:00pm: Pedraza vs. Lomachenko: Around The Ring (ESPN3)
9:00pm: Carlos Morales vs. Rene Alvarado/Hector Tanajara vs. Robert Manzanarez (Facebook)
10:00pm: UFC 231 ($64.99 Pay-Per-View)
10:00pm: Fresno State vs. Minnesota (FloWrestling)
10:20pm: Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes vs. Cecilia Braekhus/Claressa Shields vs. Femke Hermans (HBO)
11:00pm: PBC Countdown: Charlo vs. Monroe (Fox)
11:30pm: PBC Countdown: Charlo vs. Harrison (Fox)
Sunday December 9
12:30am: Ariel & The Bad Guy Live: UFC 231 Post-Show (ESPN+)
1:00am: UFC 231 Post-Fight Show (Fox Sports 1)
1:15am: UFC 231 Post-Fight Press Conference (UFC Fight Pass)
2:00am: Knock Out: King of Knock Out 2018 (Twitter)
2:30am: Pancrase 302 (UFC Fight Pass)
9:00am: 2018 VAC National Holiday Duals (FloWrestling)
1:30pm: Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State (ESPNU)
2:00pm: Maryland vs. Central Michigan (FloWrestling)
2:00pm: Indiana vs. Michigan (FloWrestling)
2:00pm: Polaris Pro 8 (UFC Fight Pass)
4:00pm: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (BigTen)
8:00pm: Eddie Bravo Invitational 18 (UFC Fight Pass)
10:00pm: Road to the Octagon: Iaquinta vs. Lee 2 (Fox Sports 1)
Top-10 Viewing Options: A man who has three weeks to dread about his college team flaming out in the playoffs and having everyone including my grandmother yelling “FRAUD” in my face passes the time with a followup week of awesome fights following last week’s barnburners.
1. UFC 231: It’s a two-fight card. It’s a great doubleheader, but damn, Top Rank is putting Loma on ESPN at the same time.
2. Jose Pedraza vs. Vasyl Lomachenko/Emanuel Navarrete vs. Isaac Dogboe: Speaking of a double-header. Holy shit, two P4P top guys defending titles on basic cable. Top Rank is bringing the thunder on counter-programming, but there’s room for everyone. If they had this next week, they’d get a ton of eyeballs.
3. Glory 62: With King Rico perhaps leaving for an acting career, Glory is staging a heavyweight tournament with eight of the best they have
4. Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes vs. Cecilia Braekhus/Claressa Shields vs. Femke Hermans: Two of the, what, three best, let’s say, female boxersin the world doublehead the finale of HBO Boxing. Won’t be a dry eye on the broadcast, the end of an era, and a beginning of perhaps a golden age in women’s boxing.
5. OneFC: Destiny of Champions: If this wasn’t an unbelievable kickboxing weekend, ONE would be higher and more of their bouts profiled in the 4×5.
6. Polaris Pro 8: Just a monster card from Polaris, on the same damned day as Eddie Bravo.
7. Legacy Fighting Alliance 56: Another solid outing from LFA, who is really hitting their stride lately.
8. Eddie Bravo Invitational 18: The ladies getting their chance for some tournament action this time.
9. Kell Brook vs. Michael Zerafa/David Avanesyan vs. Josh Kelly: Good news, everyone! Kell Brook is feeling fresh!
t10. Enfusion Live 58/59: See the above entry for OneFC. Just a monster weekend, otherwise this would get a top spot. Great card, better weekend.
t10. Fight To Win Pro 96: Last F2W card of 2017. What a year for the grappling stalwart.
t10. Cage Warriors 100: Pretty lackluster card, seeing it’s the 100th card. Step yo game up, CWFC!
4×5: Every week, UCS’s Luke Irwin will list his Top-5 bouts in each of the four major different combat sports that he’s looking forward to the most, regardless of any conventional criteria, merit, or logic.
KICKBOXING/MUAY THAI
5. Heavyweight Quarterfinal Bout: Arkadiusz Wrzosek (11-4) vs. Benjamin Adegbuyi (31-5) [Glory 62]
4. 72kg Quarterfinal Bout: Aziz Kallah (10-4) vs. Mohamed Khamal (48-10-3) [Enfusion Live 58]
3. Lightweight Bout: Christian Baya (60-8-1) vs. Marat Grigorian (55-11-1) [Glory 62]
2. Heavyweight Quarterfinal Bout: Jamal Ben Saddik (33-8) vs. Junior Tafa (19-3) [Glory 62]
1. K-1 Super Featherweight Championship: Takeru (c) (35-1) vs. Koji Sumeragichi (25-12) [K-1 World Grand Prix Japan 2018]
BOXING
5. Junior Middleweight Bout: Kell Brook (37-2) vs. Michael Zerafa (25-2) [Matchroom Boxing on DAZN]
4. IBF/WBA/WBC World Women’s Middleweight Championships: Claressa Shields (c) (7-0) vs. Femke Hermans (7-1) [HBO Boxing After Dark]
3. IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO World Women’s Welterweight Championships: Cecilia Braekhus (c) vs. Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes [HBO Boxing After Dark]
2. WBO World Junior Featherweight Championship: Isaac Dogboe (c) (20-0) vs. Emanuel Navarrete (25-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]
1. WBA (Super) World Lightweight Championship/WBO World Lightweight Championship: Jose Pedraza (c) (25-1) vs. Vasyl Lomachenko (c) (11-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]
MMA
5. Women’s Strawweight Bout: Claudia Gadelha (16-3) vs. Nina Ansaroff (9-5) [UFC 231]
4. Light Heavyweight Bout: Jimi Manuwa (17-4) vs. Thiago Santos (19-6) [UFC 231]
3. Welterweight Bout: Alex Oliveira (19-5-1) vs. Gunnar Nelson (16-3-1) [UFC 231]
2. Vacant UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship: Joanna Jedrzejczyk (15-2) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (15-3) [UFC 231]
1. UFC Featherweight Championship: Max Holloway (c) (19-3) vs. Brian Ortega (14-0) [UFC 231]
GRAPPLING/WRESTLING
5. 155lb Masters Black Belt Championship: Cleber Luciano (c) vs. Angel Lopez [Fight To Win Pro 96]
4. Superfight: Daniel Strauss vs. Satoshi Ishii [Polaris Pro 8]
3. Superfight: Benson Henderson vs. Vagner Rocha [Polaris Pro 8]
2. Superfight: Craig Jones vs. Keenan Cornelius [Polaris Pro 8]
1. Female Strawweight Tournament [Eddie Bravo Invitational 18]
Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: I took a bye week, ok, two weeks, Thanksgiving and all, so we have three weeks to make it so our kids don’t have coal. Spoiler Alert: invest in coal.
Best Fight of the Weekend: Brian Ortega vs. Max Holloway
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Takeru vs. Koji Sumeragichi
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Claressa Shields over Femke Hermans
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: Polaris Pro 8
Upset of the Week: Eryk Anders over Elias Theodorou
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Kell Brook vs. Michael Zerafa
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