Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today, we’ll be previewing this week’s top events and also going over a few notes from recent days.
Just a reminder that the Knockdown Daily newsletter will be off Tuesday and will return Wednesday.
A Look At The Week Ahead
Friday
Bellator 301: Amosov vs. Jackson
Bellator will close out their 2023 schedule on Friday night with an incredibly busy card from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, USA
The story around Bellator 301 is very similar to what was discussed when the promotion held an event last month. The financial future of Bellator remains unknown. Some reports suggest that PFL is pursuing a purchase of Bellator, but no deal has been announced as complete just yet. And after Friday, no events will be officially on the Bellator schedule for the time being. On top of that, news broke in recent weeks that Showtime, the home of Bellator, will discontinue its sports programming by the end of 2023.
While what’s next for Bellator is essentially unknown at the moment, for the time being, the main topic of discussion around the promotion will be their stacked lineup that is scheduled to take place this weekend.
Undefeated Bellator Welterweight Champion Yaroslav Amosov will attempt to defend his belt for the second time when he faces Jason Jackson in the main event. Amosov earned his first win as champ in February, going five rounds against Logan Storley for a decision win. He will now face Jackson, a talent who has slowly but steadily built up six consecutive wins in Bellator since late 2019.
The co-main event spot will go to a Bellator Bantamweight Championship fight between Sergio Pettis and Patchy Mix. Pettis, the regular champion in the division, defended his belt for the second time earlier this year, overcoming decorated Bellator vet Patricio Pitbull on scorecards. He will now face Mix, who earned interim status after winning the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix and beating Raufeon Stots in the grand final with a 80-second stoppage victory.
Also on the main card, Patricky Pitbull and Alexandr Shabliy will meet in a semi-final bout as part of the Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix. What will be next for the winning fighter after this weekend is not known at the moment, as other bracket finalist Usman Nurmagomedov was disqualified in recent days after failing a drug test.
Aside from the top three bouts, there are tons of notable Bellator names competing on the lengthy 18-fight lineup. AJ McKee Jr., Ali Isaev, Juliana Velasquez, Denise Kielholtz, and Raufeon Stots are just some of them.
Here’s the full lineup:
Main Card (9:00PM EST / 6:00PM PST) (Showtime)
Bout 18: Yaroslav Amosov (27-0) vs. Jason Jackson (16-4) (Bellator Welterweight Championship)
Bout 17: Sergio Pettis (23-5) vs. Patchy Mix (18-1) (Bellator Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 16: Patricky Pitbull (25-11) vs. Alexandr Shabliy (23-3) (Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Final)
Bout 15: Raufeon Stots (19-2) vs. Danny Sabatello (14-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 14: AJ McKee Jr. (20-1) vs. Sidney Outlaw (17-5) (Lightweight)
Preliminary Card (5:00PM EST / 2:00PM PST) (Youtube)
Bout 13: Daniel James (15-7-1) vs. Ali Isaev (9-0-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 12: Tyrell Fortune (13-3) vs. Marcelo Golm (10-4) (Heavyweight)
Bout 11: Timur Khizriev (13-0) vs. Justin Gonzales (14-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Mike Hamel (11-5) vs. Tim Wilde (16-4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Denise Kielholtz (7-5) vs. Sumiko Inaba (6-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 8: Islam Mamedov (22-3-1) vs. Killys Mota (15-3) (Catchweight 160 lbs)
Bout 7: Archie Colgan (8-0) vs. Pieter Buist (17-7) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Juliana Velasquez (12-2) vs. Paula Cristina (6-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 5: Keri Taylor-Melendez (5-0) vs. Sabriye Sengul (3-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Matheus Mattos (13-2-1) vs. Richard Palencia (10-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Cody Law (7-2) vs. Jefferson Pontes (6-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Ramazan Kuramagomedov (11-0) vs. Randall Wallace (20-9-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Yves Landu (19-9) vs. Isao Kobayashi (27-5-2) (Featherweight)
LFA 172: Davis vs. Chapolin
Headling to Arizona for the third time this year, LFA will present a title fight from the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, USA on Friday evening.
LFA 172, a card that will be a late-night presentation for viewers on the East Coast, is headlined by a five-round bout for the LFA Flyweight Championship. Looking to defend his belt for the first time, Cody Davis will take on Eduardo Henrique in the main event.
Davis claimed LFA’s flyweight title in June of this year, scoring a fifth-round stoppage against Igor Siqueira. Before then, he put together a pair of impressive first-round submission wins in the promotion, and in total currently has eight wins since turning pro in late 2020.
The opponent of Davis, Henrique, is being put in a title opportunity after scoring a unanimous decision win against Leandro Soares from LFA 165 in the summer. The 27-year-old brings experience with him, as he has fought as a pro since 2015, with 13 bouts to his name.
There are some solid up-and-coming names that will be in action at LFA 172 this weekend. Here’s the full lineup:
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 7:00PM PST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 12: Cody Davis (8-1) vs. Eduardo Henrique (11-2) (LFA Flyweight Championship)
Bout 11: Ivan Tena (6-1) s. Lerryan Douglas (8-5) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Juliano Prescendo (9-2) vs. Nikita Kulshin (4-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Cedric Katambwa (3-0) vs. Bret Cooper (2-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Eric Fimbres (2-0) vs. Lydell Poag (2-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 7: Mirafzal Akhtamov (5-0-1) vs. Keyth Dawson (4-4) (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 6: Leslie Hernandez (1-1) vs. Cristina Brador (1-0) (Strawweight)
Bout 5: Livio Ribeiro (3-0) vs. Chas Dunhour (1-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Grace DiFrancesco (0-0) vs. Jasmine Pouncy (1-3) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: James Deitz (2-0) vs. Jorge Lecuanda (2-4) (Amateur Lightweight)
Bout 2: Jenna Williams (5-3) vs. Alex Apodaca (3-2) (Amateur Catchweight 130 lbs)
Bout 1: Leon Mackey Jr. (1-0) vs. Tyler Gates (1-1) (Amateur Heavyweight)
Saturday
UFC on ESPN+ 90: Allen vs. Craig
After a hectic weekend in New York City, UFC will return to its home headquarters of the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA for a midday “Fight Night” card this weekend. A 14-bout show is scheduled to be headlined by middleweights Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.
The matchup of Allen and Craig is being marketed as a pairing of two finish-heavy fighters. Allen has been on a roll since last year, currently on a five-fight streak of victories, with four of those wins coming via rear naked choke submission. Craig isn’t as consistent of a talent, as his July win over Andre Muniz snapped a two-fight skid that he developed in recent months.
Saturday’s co-main event will see 15-fight undefeated talent Michael Morales get matched against 18-bout UFC vet Jake Matthews. Lower on the card, a matchup between ranked strawweights Amanda Ribas and Luana Pinheiro will take place as well.
Here is how the full UFC “Fight Night” lineup for this weekend looks currently:
Main Card (5:00PM EST / 2:00PM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 14: Brendan Allen (22-5) vs. Paul Craig (17-6-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 13: Jake Matthews (19-6) vs. Michael Morales (15-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 12: Jordan Leavitt (11-2) vs. Chase Hooper (12-3-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 11: Payton Talbott (6-0) vs. Nick Aguirre (7-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 10: Amanda Ribas (11-4) vs. Luana Pinheiro (11-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Uros Medic (9-1) vs. Jonny Parsons (9-3) (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card (2:00PM EST / 11:00AM PST) (ESPN+)
Bout 8: Cesar Almeida (4-0) vs. Christian Leroy Duncan (8-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 7: Nikolas Motta (13-5) vs. Trey Ogden (16-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Lucie Pudilova (14-8) vs. Ailin Perez (8-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Mick Parkin (7-0) vs. Caio Machado (8-1-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Jonathan Pearce (14-4) vs. Joanderson Brito (15-3-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Chad Anheliger (12-6) vs. Jose Johnson (15-8) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Charles Johnson (13-5) vs. Rafael Estevam (11-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Lucas Alexander (8-3) vs. Jeka Saragih (13-3) (Featherweight)
Notes On: UFC & RIZIN
The second UFC assignment for Kevin Jousset (9-2) is booked. The French talent will face Song Kenan (21-7) at the promotion’s December 9th card in Shanghai, China, as first reported by Baptiste Bajard. Jousset won his UFC debut in September, scoring a first-round submission against Kiefer Crosbie. Song snapped a two-fight skid with a win over Rolando Bedoya in August.
A pair of light heavyweight fights were revealed for UFC 297, the promotion’s January 20th pay-per-view from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as part of their broadcast on Saturday night.
Appearing for the first time since suffering a loss against now-UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira, Jan Blachowicz (29-10-1) will meet Aleksandar Rakic (14-3) in a rematch. The first meeting between these two was in 2022 when an injury to Rakic forced him out of the fight in the third round of their bout.
Attempting to snap a four-fight losing streak that stretches back to his 2020 appearance against Jon Jones, Dominick Reyes (12-4) will go up against City Kickboxing talent Carlos Ulberg (9-1). In September, Ulberg picked up his fifth consecutive win, submitting Jung Da-un with a rear naked choke.
After winning her flyweight debut in July, Julija Stoliarenko (11-7-1) will go up against Luana Carolina (9-4) on UFC’s February 3rd card. Carolina snapped a two-fight losing streak in July with a win against Ivana Petrovic.
RIZIN announced Friday that heavyweights Tsuyoshi Sudario (8-2) and Mikio Ueda (2-1) will meet at the promotion’s New Year’s Eve card this year from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Sudario will be looking to close out his year with a third consecutive win after beating UFC vet Roque Martinez and Lim Dong-hwan. Ueda scored his first RIZIN win in June, beating Hideki Sekine in 22 seconds. He also appeared in kickboxing this fall, beating K-Jee on a K-1 card.
RIZIN also announced a lightweight kickboxing bout between Rukiya Anpo and Minoru Kimura.