Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue includes the usual week preview, plus notes on a few UFC and Cage Warriors developments.
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Let’s begin.
A Look At The Week Ahead
Saturday
Cage Warriors 163: London
Cage Warriors will crown a new welterweight champion when they return to London, England this Saturday.
The promotion’s 15th-ever champion at welterweight, Rhys McKee, vacated his title earlier this year after signing a deal to join the UFC roster, becoming the third consecutive champion in the division to do so.
This weekend, Omiel Brown and Giannis Bachar will attempt to take the belt at 170 pounds. Brown has fought his entire pro career in Cage Warriors, earning six wins through eight assignments in that time. He is coming off a first-round finish win over Jesse Urholin from July. Bachar won his promotional debut in May, stopping Carlo Pedersoli with strikes. That appearance marked his seventh consecutive win since 2016.
Also on Saturday, former UFC talent Darren Stewart will search for his fourth consecutive Cage Warriors victory when he faces Brazilian vet Edilson Franca in the co-main event.
Here’s a look at the card.
Main Card (4:00PM EST / 9:00PM GMT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 14: Omiel Brown (6-2) vs. Giannis Bachar (8-2) (Vacant Cage Warriors Lightweight Championship)
Bout 13: Darren Stewart (15-9) vs. Edilson Franca (10-8) (Catchweight 195 lbs)
Bout 12: Mateusz Figlak (7-2) vs. Denilson Neves (16-10) (Welterweight)
Bout 11: Gerardo Fanny (13-3) vs. Shawn Da Silva (5-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 10: Jimmy Quinn (1-0) vs. Tom Wright (0-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 9: Will Currie (10-3) vs. Wallison Henrique (16-13) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Awa Sow (1-3) vs. Sineadh Ni Nuallain (0-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 7: Teddy Stringer (1-0) vs. Italo Lima (3-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Shirzad Qadrian (3-1) vs. Rory Evans (6-5) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Tom Crasey (5-1) vs. Amir Malekpour (5-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Rhi-Rhi Hudson (0-0) vs. Flavia Zanni (0-0) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: Francesco Mazzeo (2-0) vs. Angus Hewett (1-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Luca Borando (3-0) vs. Wesley Machado (3-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Tariq Pell (2-0) vs. Shaun Fraser (1-0) (Lightweight)
KSW 88: Bitwa o Radom
KSW will appear in Polish city Radom for only its second time ever on Saturday, presenting KSW 88 from the Hala RCS Sport. The promotion made their debut in Radom last year with KSW 68, where home city talent Daniel Rutkowski battled Salahdine Parnasse. They return this weekend with “Bitwa o Radom,” or “Battle of Radom.”
Rutkowski will be in front of his city supporters once again this weekend, facing fellow Radom-based fighter Patryk Kaczmarczyk. While Rutkowski lost in the aforementioned featherweight title fight against Parnasse, he has since strung together three victories, including a June win at the promotion’s big “Coliseum 2” show. Kaczmarczyk is also on a roll, having scored two wins recently, including a first-round finish.
Here’s a look at the full KSW 88 lineup:
Main Card (1:00PM EST / 7:00PM CET)
Bout 9: Daniel Rutkowski (16-3) vs. Patryk Kaczmarczyk (10-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Kamil Gawryjolek (5-0) vs. Stefan Vojcak (6-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Anita Bekus (7-3) vs. Maria Silva (9-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 6: Albert Odzimkowski (13-7) vs. Nemanja Nikolic (9-1-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Bartosz Lesko (13-3-2) vs. Piotr Kuberski (12-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Marcin Wojcik (18-8) vs. Luis Henrique da Silva (19-9) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 3: Danu Tarchila (6-2) vs. Ramzan Jembiev (4-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Krystian Bielski (9-5) vs. Andi Vrtacic (4-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 1: Jacek Gac (2-0) vs. Michal Gniady (1-0) (Catchweight 176 lbs)
UFC 295: Prochazka vs. Pereira
UFC will present one of its biggest annual cards on Saturday night, as they will head to Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, USA, for the seventh time in the promotion’s history.
UFC 295 isn’t the card that the promotion initially hoped to put on. The biggest hit the lineup was undoubtedly the removal of a heavyweight title fight between long-time light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones and former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic. A few weeks ago, it was announced that an injury in camp from Jones would force him out of a fight that would allow him to defend his heavyweight belt for the first time.
However, despite that bout being off UFC 295, the card still has an incredibly high-profile fight at light heavyweight that is worthy of a headlining spot. Former champions Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira will meet in Saturday’s main event, vying for the promotion’s vacant 205-pound title.
Pereira earned the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion last year in the exact same venue that he will try to find success in this weekend. Pereira earned a late finish against Israel Adesanya in November 2022 to earn the title, although he later lost it in a rematch.
For Prochazka, he’ll be trying to start a new title reign after an injury forced an end to his previous one. He briefly had the title in 2022, submitting Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 to earn the championship. After more than a year outside of action, he’ll have a big chance this weekend.
Another title fight will take place in the co-main event, as Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall will fight for an interim belt at heavyweight. It will be the first-ever UFC title appearance for both contenders.
Here’s a look at the full pay-per-view lineup for this weekend:
Main Card (10:00PM EST) (PPV)
Bout 12: Jiri Prochazka (29-3-1) vs. Alex Pereira (8-2) (Vacant UFC Light heavyweight Championship)
Bout 11: Sergei Pavlovich (18-1) vs. Tom Aspinall (13-3) (Vacant Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 10: Jessica Andrade (24-12) vs. Mackenzie Dern (13-3) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Matt Frevola (11-3-1) vs. Benoit Saint-Denis (12-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Pat Sabatini (18-4) vs. Diego Lopes (22-6) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EST) (ESPNews / ESPN+)
Bout 7: Steve Erceg (10-1) vs. Alessandro Costa (13-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 6: Tabatha Ricci (9-1) vs. Loopy Godinez (11-3) (Strawweight)
Bout 5: Nazim Sadykhov (9-1) vs. Viacheslav Borshchev (7-3) (Lightweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EST) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 4: Jared Gordon (19-6) vs. Mark Madsen (12-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Kang Kyung-ho (19-9) vs. John Castaneda (20-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Joshua Van (8-1) vs. Kevin Borjas (9-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Dennis Buzukja (11-3) vs. Jamall Emmers (19-7) (Featherweight)
Notes On: UFC & Cage Warriors
An injury has taken Nurullo Aliev (9-0) out of his UFC 295 fight this weekend against Mateusz Rebecki (18-1), per Setanta Sports reporter Giorgi Kokiashvili. Aliev earned a win in his UFC debut earlier this year, beating Rafael Alves. It is unknown at the moment if Rebecki, who was looking for a third win as part of his rookie year in the UFC, will get a new opponent.
Lucas Almeida (14-2) is expected to meet Andre Fili (22-10) at UFC 296 on December 16th. Almeida took his first UFC loss in June, getting submitted by Pat Sabatini. Fili has struggled in recent years, having won just one of his past five fights, with three ending via loss and the other being a no contest.
Former LFA Flyweight Champion Felipe Bunes (13-6) will make his UFC debut on January 13th against Denys Bondar (19-4), per Marcel Dorff. Bunes was first scheduled to have his UFC debut in June against Zhalgas Zhumagulov, although that plan later fell through. Bondar will be searching for his first UFC win through three appearances in the cage.
Cage Warriors announced that Teddy Stringer (1-0) will meet Italo Julio (3-1) in a lightweight bout at their November 11th card from London, England.
A pair of Indonesian talents will compete at Cage Warriors 164 in Newcastle, England on November 25th.
Five-fight undefeated featherweight Reza Arianto (5-0) will fight Julien Lopez (5-3-1). Arianto has strictly competed in One Pride MMA before, where he earned four finishes through five appearances.
Returning to Cage Warriors for the second time, RJ Aritonang (2-0) will battle Matthieu Moya (1-2). Aritonang won his promotional debut in May with a decision victory over Gianluca Ancora.