11/25/24: A Look At The Week Ahead
Also: 10 takeaways from the weekend
Welcome to a Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily! Today is our usual preview and review issue of the week. While America celebrating Thanksgiving this week means there are fewer MMA cards to preview than usual, we nonetheless have a super busy PFL grand final card to discuss in today’s Look At The Week Ahead. And in this week’s column, we have thoughts on UFC Macau, plus other top headlines from around the sport.
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A Look At The Week Ahead
Friday
PFL 2024 Championships
The culmination of PFL’s 10-event, year-long annual tournament will garner the biggest spotlight in MMA this
Six champions will be crowned on Friday night from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when PFL presents their 2024 grand finals. After six regular season events and three playoff shows which allowed fighters to advance past the semi-finals, fighters will appear for a fourth and final time this year with the hopes of capturing gold and a $1 million grand prize.
Here’s a quick rundown of the six top storylines heading into Friday’s show:
Looking to follow up on his 2022 title run, Brendan Loughnane will meet undefeated Russian Timur Khizriev in the featherweight finals. Loughnane has continued to prove his explosive skills this year, putting away Pedro Carvalho and Justin Gonzales as part of the regular season before getting by Kai Kamaka III via decision in August. Former Bellator talent Khizriev enters this weekend with an impressive 17-fight undefeated record, beating names like Brett Johns and Gabriel Graba in recent years.
At flyweight, the incredibly hyped Dakota Ditcheva will take on former UFC title challenger Taila Santos, providing the first major step-up matchup for the rising U.K. fighter. 2023 PFL Europe Champion Ditcheva has gained a following for her flashy striking style, which has caused nearly all 13 of her pro wins to come within the distance. While she has styled against talents like Jena Bishop and Chelsea Hackett in recent months, this weekend sees her face a bigger opponent than ever before. Former Valentina Shevchenko opponent Santos is coming off a win over Bellator champ Liz Carmouche and has a significant experience advantage over Ditcheva. Nonetheless, the hype of Ditcheva has made her a heavy favorite heading into this weekend.
Impa Kasanganay is the only fighter who has the chance to become a back-to-back PFL champion this weekend but must get past the tough Dovlet Yagshimuradov first. Kasanganay, the 2023 light heavyweight champ, comes back to the finals this year after another trio of victories. Yagshimuradov has proven to be one of the breakout Bellator crossover talents in the PFL this year, beating former champ Rob Wilkinson in the semi-finals to secure a title fight.
In a clash between undefeated Russian contenders, Magomed Umalatov and Shamil Musaev will face off this weekend. Umalatov has developed his skills in the PFL since 2021, although Friday marks the first time that he has found his way to a championship finals. He got past a gauntlet of Bellator vets on his way to the title fight, overcoming Neiman Gracie in August. Musaev, a fighter with an impressive 19 wins, finds himself in the finals of his first-ever PFL season after stopping Logan Storley and Murad Ramazanov earlier this year.
More than seven years after his brief and controversial reign as Bellator champ, Brent Primus will look to capture another major MMA title when he faces Gadzhi Rabadanov at lightweight. 39-year-old Primus has put together a career resurgence of sorts this year, earning back-to-back submission wins in the regular season and beating long-time PFL contender Clay Collard in the semi-finals to get on this weekend’s card. Rabadanov, a fellow former Bellator talent, will wager an impressive nine-fight winning streak in the matchup.
And at heavyweight, Russia’s Denis Goltsov and Oleg Popov will meet. This weekend could provide a long-awaited title win for Goltsov, who is in his fifth PFL season and has come as close as the finals in past years. His rise to a title shot has been explosive, scoring a trio of finishes since April. Popov is receiving the title shot—his first major title matchup in the sport—after beating veteran Linton Cassell in August.
This year’s PFL finals taking place in Saudi Arabia underscores the Middle Eastern country’s deep business ties to the fight promotion over the past year. More than a year following news that the country had invested more than $100 million into the fighting brand, all of their top events have taken place in Riyadh. The debut of Francis Ngannou, a “PFL vs. Bellator” pay-per-view showcase, and now Friday’s card all took place in the country.
Friday’s PFL card, which is likely to be one of the longest MMA presentations of the year, will have a 10-fight lineup before the main title bouts. The finals for PFL’s inaugural Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will take place earlier in the evening, concluding a tournament which kicked off in May. A five-fight prelims will feature numerous stand-out talents in showcase matches, including 2023 PFL Featherweight Champion Jesus Pinedo, veteran Dutch talent Costello van Steenis, and Bellator alum Jeremy Kennedy.
Unlike PFL grand final broadcasts in recent years, this weekend’s card will not air on pay-per-view. Instead, the show will be showcased on the ESPN+ subscription service, making it a significantly cheaper viewing experience than in years before.
Here’s how the show looks:
Main Card (1:00PM EST / 9:00PM AST) (ESPN+)
Bout 16: Brendan Loughnane (30-5) vs. Timur Khizriev (17-0) (PFL Featherweight Championship)
Bout 15: Dakota Ditcheva (13-0) vs. Taila Santos (22-3) (PFL Flyweight Championship)
Bout 14: Impa Kasanganay (18-4) vs. Dovlet Yagshimuradov (24-7-1) (PFL Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 13: Magomed Umalatov (17-0) vs. Shamil Musaev (19-0-1) (PFL Welterweight Championship)
Bout 12: Brent Primus (15-3) vs. Gadzhi Rabadanov (23-4-2) (PFL Lightweight Championship)
Bout 11: Denis Goltsov (35-8) vs. Oleg Popov (19-1) (PFL Heavyweight Championship)
PFL MENA Finals (9:30AM EST / 4:30PM AST) (ESPN+)
Bout 10: Abdalrahim Alhyasat (5-0) vs. Abdullah Al-Qahtani (9-2) (PFL MENA Featherweight Championship)
Bout 9: Mohammad Alaqraa (7-0) vs. Omar El Dafrawy (12-6) (PFL MENA Welterweight Championship)
Bout 8: Hattan Alsaif (2-0) vs. Lilia Osmani (0-0) (Amateur Atomweight)
Bout 7: Ali Taleb (11-1) vs. Rachid Haz (15-3) (PFL MENA Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 6: Mohammad Mohammadseifi (6-2) vs. Georges Eid (10-4) (PFL MENA Lightweight Championship)
Preliminary Card (7:15AM EST / 2:15PM AST) (ESPN+)
Bout 5: Mansour Barnaoui (21-6) vs. Alfie Davis (17-4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 4: Slim Trabelsi (7-0) vs. Abraham Bably (5-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 3: Jesus Pinedo (23-6-1) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (19-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Asael Adjoudj (8-1) vs. Jose Perez (9-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Costello van Steenis (15-3) vs. Joao Vitor Dantas (7-1) (Middleweight)
LUX Fight League 48
One of the most memorable LUX Fight League matchups from earlier this year will receive its sequel this weekend.
After facing off earlier this year in what the promotion’s broadcast team deemed “the craziest and bloodiest fight” in their history, flyweight champion Jorge Calvo and Kike Gonzalez will meet once again in the headlining spot of a card from the Showcenter Complex in Monterrey, Mexico on Friday evening.
125-pound LUX king Calvo defended his title against Gonzalez earlier this year, going the distance in a five-round fight for the first time in his career. While Calvo won four rounds to one on scorecards, his victory didn’t come after a hard-fought performance against the gutsy Gonzalez, who left the cage looking like a crime scene.
Just over six months after that first clash, they’ll run it back in the LUX cage.
For Calvo, this weekend gives him a chance to continue his impressive title run, looking to defend his belt for the fourth time since first becoming champ in March 2023. Friday night is his third championship appearance in 2024 alone, coming back after submitting Alexandro Bravo in August.
Gonzalez, a LUX talent since 2019, will be trying for the third time to capture a belt in the promotion. He has regained some momentum since his March defeat to Calvo, recently beating Humberto Duarte on scorecards.
Before the rematch in Friday’s main event, featherweight champ Edgar Delgado will meet Alejandro Corrales.
Delgado is coming off an impressive heel hook submission win from June, getting past former UFC talent Jose Alberto Quinonez to defend his title for the second time. He will now go up against 27-year-old Corrales, who has strung together five consecutive wins since 2022.
If you’re looking for some prime-time programming after PFL wraps up on Friday night, LUX has a strong offering. Here’s what they are planning to present this weekend:
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 9:00PM CST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 11: Jorge Calvo (18-6) vs. Kike Gonzalez (12-4) (LUX Fight League Flyweight Championship)
Bout 10: Edgar Delgado (14-6) vs. Alejandro Corrales (7-2) (LUX Fight League Featherweight Championship)
Bout 9: Luis Rey Gallegos (9-8) vs. Jaime Londono (5-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 8: Pedro Pena (9-2) vs. Isaac Ruelas (6-6) (Featherweight)
Bout 7: Hannah Ramos (6-3) vs. Karen Martinez (3-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 6: Erick Rodriguez (6-2) vs. Hugo Torres (7-2) (Flyweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 5: Andre Barquero (9-2) vs. Abraham Nava (6-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Karla Pastrana (6-3) vs. Daniela Hernandez (4-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: Cesar Vazquez (9-2) vs. Carlos Puente Jr. (8-9-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Victoria Alba (3-2) vs. Susset Gomez (2-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Silvestre Sanchez (6-1) vs. Jafeth Herrera Quiros (4-2) (Welterweight)
Due to Thanksgiving being observed this week in the U.S., it’s slim pickings for MMA. However, here are a few smaller events to point out for this week:
Australian promotion Eternal MMA will host a doubleheader this weekend from Queensland. The back-to-back nights of action will culminate with a middleweight title fight between John Martin Fraser (8-4) and Darcy Vendy (5-3). For Fraser, the fight offers a chance for him to gain Eternal gold for the third time, returning eight months after his second reign was stopped by Ben Johnston. Rising flyweight prospect Frank Janikowski (5-1) will try to defend his title for the second time in the co-main event when he faces Takeshi Taniguchi (4-1). (Watch: UFC Fight Pass)
Japanese regional brand Shooto will head to Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for a show this Saturday. The main event will see long-time featherweight champ Keisuke Sasu (13-3-1) look to defend his title for the third time, meeting Asuka Tsubaki (7-5) in a five-round clash. Sasu has held Shooto’s top 145-pound belt since 2021 and has scored stoppage wins in both his prior outings as champ. Some might remember him for appearances in the 2022 and 2023 “Road To UFC” seasons, never making it further than the quarter-finals of a bracket. Despite those shortcomings on the global stage, he has run roughshot over Shooto’s 145-pound division for years and hopes to continue his reign this weekend. The co-main event will see former Pride FC, UFC, and WSOF talent Yushin Okami (38-15) meet Kim Jae-young (28-16) for the promotion’s middleweight title. The fight, Okami’s first title shot since a 2014 WSOF loss to David Branch, is a rematch from his late 2023 split decision win in a non-title clash.
A quick update on the world of boxing: 2021 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Galal Yafai (8-0) will get his first world title shot this weekend, facing former WBC and IBF champ Sunny Edwards (21-1) in a fight for the interim WBC flyweight title. Yafai has quickly shot up the rankings in boxing since his 2022 pro debut, but this weekend will get his first major step-up fight. Edwards will be appearing in his first title fight since a 2023 loss against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. (Watch: DAZN)
10 Takeaways From The Weekend
Conor McGregor’s trial was one of the biggest stories of the year and should be treated as such. There’s something about the past two weeks that didn’t sit right with me. While arguably the biggest star in the sport’s history went to court over horrifying allegations of sexual assault against a woman—the type of details that would kill the careers of most—it wasn’t the dominating topic in MMA circles. Don’t get me wrong, I saw people discussing the story. But, it didn’t feel like what it is: One of the most important stories in the sport this year. Now that the trial has ended and McGregor was found liable in the civil case against Nikita Hand, I ask one simple thing of you, the reader: If you haven’t already, learn about what happened. Read the reports of what the courts were told, listen to the recent Luke Thomas interview with a reporter who covered the case, and treat the trial with the seriousness and importance of any other major headline coming out of the MMA world. When topics like these aren’t discussed, it becomes lost on people how important the story is. And this is, without a doubt, a massive story.
It might not happen tomorrow, but a second Petr Yan title run is certainly possible. Years after his reign as UFC Bantamweight Champion came to an end, Petr Yan is still one of the best names in the division. His five-round showcase against Deiveson Figueiredo—one of the better post-Demetrious Johnson era flyweights—showed that he remains the striking aficionado who rose to prominence in the 2010s and captured a title by 2020. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think that he could not only challenge for a title again sometime in the future, but that he could become a two-time champ someday.
Deiveson Figueiredo faces his first bantamweight setback. Saturday night’s main event must have been a tough loss for Deiveson Figueiredo. For the past year, his move up to bantamweight following a lengthy flyweight career looked like the right career choice. After impressive performances against Cody Garbrandt and Marlon Vera, he had the chance to become one of the division’s top contenders with a win this weekend. But now that he has lost, the 36-year-old has seen his climb up one of the promotion’s most competitive divisions slowed. I’m personally wondering how we will look back on this defeat: Will this be where we pinpoint Figueiredo’s last run toward a title shot come to an end? Will this be the end of Figueiredo being considered a “contender?”
Will either Yan get a title shot soon? Petr Yan and Yan Xiaonan both called for title fights on Saturday night, wanting to face Merab Dvalishvili and Zhang Weili respectively in rematches. However, those fights shouldn’t happen just yet. At bantamweight, it simply makes more sense to have Dvalishvili face Umar Nurmagomedov. 28-year-old Nurmagomedov has a flawless 18-fight undefeated record, a five-round win over Cory Sandhagen from this year, and has never faced Dvalishvili before. And since Zhang only gave up a single round when she faced Yan earlier this year in a five-round clash, I don’t see the reason for a rematch between them so soon. Sure, there any amazing matchups for Zhang at the moment. But a second fight against Yan—being given to Yan after she beat the 10th-ranked fighter in the division—is one of the least compelling fights that could be made.
The stars of UFC Macau were Petr Yan, Yan Xiaonan and… Shi Ming? For anyone who didn’t catch the prelims of Saturday’s card, “Road To UFC” strawweight winner Shi Ming became a bit of a viral star after her win over Feng Xiaocan. While her victory—which saw her overcome large underdog odds and score a flashy comeback head kick kncokout—was impressive, it was out-of-the-cage details which made her a star. Fans online learned about the fact that she’s already a doctor, that her parents allegedly don’t know about her fighting career (we’ll see about that after this weekend), and that she’s a huge fighting video game nerd. In a world where there are dozens of brutal knockout and submission clips surfacing every week, having a slick finish to a fight doesn’t guarantee virality. So hats off to Shi, who along with her impressive win utilized her possibly unintentionally funny story to become one of the biggest stars of UFC Macau. Don’t believe me? This post has 14 million views, this one has another 8 million, and countless others have hundreds of thousands of views.
A tough loss for Wang Cong. It’s unfortunate when an incredibly hyped prospect doesn’t live up to their billing. Even worse, it stings when said prospect loses their momentum before even being placed in what is expected to be a sink-or-swim matchup against a high-level talent. Unfortunately for the incredibly hyped Chinese prospect Wang Cong, that’s exactly what happened when she was submitted by +625 underdog Gabriella Fernandes on Saturday night. While Wang was expected to make quick work of Fernandes like she did to Victoria Leonardo in August, she ended up snapping a six-fight undefeated record and losing a ton of the goodwill she was given in recent months. You have to wonder whether this is a bump in the road on her way to the top a la Sean O’Malley’s loss to Marlon Vera, or if it’s a sign that she’s actually not all that people might have expected her to be. Zane Simon wrote an interesting piece about how the loss might hurt Wang’s ability to be a hyped fighter, even if she does rise to the top of flyweight someday: “The organic interest has passed, whatever remains will be the product of spin.” You can read his full article here.
We need more shows like UFC Macau. UFC’s trips to East Asia tend to be some of the more interesting “Fight Night” cards of the year, providing a spotlight on the many countries in and around the region that are highly represented in the fight promotion. Similar to how the U.K., Brazil, and Canada get frequent shows, I’m hoping UFC can make appearances in Asia a more frequent thing: Maybe twice a year? I don’t know what their plan long-term with Macau is, and I also recognize that UFC’s schedule nowadays highly depends on who they can squeeze site fee dollars out of. However, I hope despite all of that business and politics that they can find a way to get out there a little more often than they already do.
Some Bellator fighters aren’t happy. On Sunday, a series of Bellator talents went public regarding how few opportunities they have been given since PFL purchased the brand. Patricio Pitbull, Leandro Higo, and Patchy Mix all took to social media to air grievances this weekend. “I’ve been training my ass off for the last half of the year for nothing,” Mix wrote. “I am the best in the world and I want to fight to prove it.” It doesn’t seem like PFL has properly transitioned Bellator and its fighters into the next era. They planned to host eight Bellator cards and instead did just five. There has been little expansion to the brand’s schedule, giving hardly any space for the many new roster members to remain active. For all the high points of PFL’s 2024, like the debut of Francis Ngannou and possibly their massive show this weekend, there have also been many errors like this. I think there is room for a greater look back on their year soon, and it’s something I’m thinking of writing about for the newsletter’s upcoming year-in-review series.
Okay, let’s call up Natasha Kuziutina. I want to finish this opinion block by going over a pair of regional prospects I wouldn’t mind seeing on a bigger stage. First I’d like to mention Natasha Kuziutina, who prevailed in her third consecutive LFA title fight on Friday by beating Yasmin Guimaraes. She’s a past Judo bronze medalist at the Olympics, her only loss came against a current UFC fighter, and she has fought a combined 15 rounds (FIFTEEN!!) in 12 months. I think she has earned a spot on the roster.
Will the Kennedys return to the UFC? If the UFC wants to bring another interesting character into the promotion, they should sign Kennedy Freeman. She’s the daughter of a UFC legend, Ian Freeman. She fights at bantamweight, a division which only has 34 active fighters. She’s also on a roll, with her Cage Warriors title win this weekend over Mafalda Carmona marking her third finish within 12 months. I get that she’s only 6-0, and that might be a reason why the promotion would let her develop a little more on the regionals. But besides that, I think she is an obvious name to have as part of the roster someday.