Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. As per usual in the Monday issue, we’ll be previewing the week ahead for MMA.
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A Look At The Week Ahead
This week is without a major MMA card, although it won’t be a slow weekend of online discourse in combat sports. Lots of focus will be on the boxing match between heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and decorated MMA heavyweight Francis Ngannou, who will be making his boxing debut.
The fight — which goes down Saturday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — will be the first combat sports appearance from Ngannou since he defended his UFC Heavyweight Championship against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. He has since departed the UFC, signed a deal with MMA organization PFL, and arranged a high-profile boxing match against one of the most prolific and successful names in the sport currently.
It’s a spectacle that resembles parts of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor meeting from 2017, although this rendition is without the bad blood vibes that the 2017 boxing match included. Six years after Mayweather Jr. finished a fatigued McGregor in the 10th round of a boxing match, we will see if the public can once again be sold on a fight where an MMA fighter tries out boxing one of the best boxers in the world, despite never competing in that sport.
All eyes in MMA and boxing will be on Fury vs. Ngannou this Saturday. However, it’s not an MMA card. So, to keep to the strict theme of A Look At The Week Ahead, here are the notable MMA events scheduled for this week:
Friday
Invicta FC 54: McCormack vs. Wojcik
A pair of regional MMA events will go down on Friday night. First, it will be all-women’s MMA promotion Invicta FC appearing for the first time in more than five months. They’re presenting a six-fight card from the Citizens House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
In the main event, Invicta FC Strawweight Champion Danni McCormack will look to defend her belt for the first time when she faces Karolina Wojcik. Out of the 10 strawweight champions in Invicta FC history, just four have defended their belt — in many cases, fighters vacate their title after winning it due to being offered a UFC contract.
A win on Saturday puts McCormack up with four solid strawweight names: Emily Ducote, Virna Jandiroba, Angela Hill, and Livia Renata Souza. Her opponent, Wojcik, is more experienced with 14 fights, with wins in KSW and Invicta FC.
In the co-main event, three-fight UFC alum Kalindra Faria will make her Invicta FC debut against Valesca Machado. Faria is stepping in for Isis Verbeek, who was the original opponent for Machado.
Here’s the lineup:
Main Card (8:00PM EDT) (Youtube)
Bout 6: Danni McCormack (7-2) vs. Karolina Wojcik (11-3) (Invicta FC Strawweight Championship)
Bout 5: Valesca Machado (12-4) vs. Kalindra Faria (19-9-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 4: Kristina Williams (6-4) vs. Dee Begley (4-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 3: Hilarie Rose (6-6) vs. Andrea Amaro (3-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 2: Julia Dorny (2-1) vs. Riley Martinez (2-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Maria Djukic (2-1) vs. Fernanda Araujo (2-3) (Bantamweight)
LFA 170: Talundzic vs. Frunza
Later in the evening, LFA will present a card from the Dobson Arena in Vail, Colorado, USA. This show is scheduled to be headlined by a welterweight clash between Haris Talundzic and Daniel Frunza.
Talundzic has slowly grown his career in LFA since 2021. He joined the promotion just over two years ago, coming in after winning his pro debut in 2019. He started with a hot four-fight winning streak, including two submission wins. His first loss came in 2022 last year when veteran Chris Brown beat him on scorecards.
Talundzic got back to his winning ways later that year, putting away Omoyele Gonzalez in the first round of a bout with a rear naked choke. Now after nearly a full year out of the cage, Talundzic will return in his second-ever LFA main event appearance.
Frunza is riding the momentum of an explosive LFA debut win from August. The Romanian talent scored a first-round finish at LFA 164, stopping Jalin Fuller with punches. It was his third consecutive finish win since 2022.
There are a few other notable prospects lower in the lineup as well. Myktybek Orolbai will search for his third LFA win in the co-main event, taking on Hayward Charles. Coming back after scoring a finish in his last LFA appearance, featherweight Isaac Thomson will meet AJ Robb. And in a matchup of two undefeated strawweight prospects, Shannon Clark and Nejra Repp will compete.
Here’s how the card looks:
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 12: Haris Talundzic (6-1) vs. Daniel Frunza (7-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 11: Hayward Charles (18-14) vs. Myktybek Orolbai (10-1-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: AJ Robb (6-2) vs. Isaac Thomson (5-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Caio Machado (16-8) vs. Illyor Bakhtiyar Uulu (7-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Nejra Repp (2-0) vs. Shannon Clark (3-0) (Flyweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 7: Daniel Gonzales (2-1) vs. Jordan Burkholder (4-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 6: Carlos Rivera (1-0) vs. Hondo Gutierrez (1-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Keynan Davis (0-0) vs. Walter Saragosa (0-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Austin Waterman (0-0) vs. Chaz Polson (0-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Brittany Camozza (1-2) vs. Diana Sanchez (1-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 2: Juan Sarrios (2-4) vs. Eli Wise (0-0) (Amateur Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Christian Garcia (0-0) vs. Jacob Hill (0-0) (Amateur Lightweight)
Saturday
Cage Warriors 162: Rome
Just about a year ago, Cage Warriors touched down in Rome, Italy for the first time. It has seemingly become a popular spot for the promotion since then, as this Saturday will be the fourth time that they have visited the Fiera Roma venue in the city.
Unsurprisingly, this card is stacked full of prospects from Italy. In 14 fights, a total of 18 fighters from Italy will compete. A large chunk of this card seemingly has the theme of “Italy vs. The World,” although there are also matchups where the country’s prospects go up against each other.
The main event of the card will see Simone Patrizi face Dumitru Girlean. Patrizi won his Cage Warriors debut earlier this year, stopping Ermil Xhaferi in the third round with strikes. Girlean is coming off a loss to Leon Hill earlier this year, a loss that ended a three-fight winning streak for Girlean which included his Cage Warriors debut.
It’ll be a busy night over at Cage Warriors. Here’s how the show looks at the moment:
Main Card (4:00PM EDT / 10:00PM CEST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 14: Simone Patrizi (6-1) vs. Dumitru Girlean (6-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 13: Simone D’Anna (9-4) vs. Albert Dias (6-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 12: Emanuele Tetti (1-0) vs. Alessia Barbara (3-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 11: Micol di Segni (10-5) vs. Samantha Jean-Francois (8-6) (Strawweight)
Bout 10: Edoardo Caiazza (3-1) vs. Baris Adiguzel (3-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Tanio Pagliariccio (8-3) vs. Sam Creasey (17-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 8: Michelangelo Lupoli (6-3) vs. Nicolas Leblond (8-4) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Leon Aliu (10-3) vs. Alan Carlos (13-11) (Middleweight)
Bout 6: Matteo Martignoni (1-0) vs. Alessandro Lupieri (0-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 5: Khadim Dia (3-0) vs. Faudel Bentayeb (3-4) (Welterweight)
Bout 4: Giuseppe Mastrogiacomo (3-0) vs. Valentino Riva (3-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Alex Bertinazzi (4-2) vs. Baris Adiguzel (3-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Luca Iovine (18-10) vs. Andrey Tyshchenko (6-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Simone Baselli (0-1) vs. Dnaiel Ghercioiu (0-0) (Featherweight)