3/4/24: A Look At The Week Ahead

Also: 10 Weekend Takeaways

Welcome to a Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. We have a busy preview of the upcoming week for you, plus some notes and a new weekly column.

Just a reminder, the Knockdown Daily will not send an issue out on Tuesday. The newsletter will return Wednesday with a recap of the latest MMA news.

A Look At The Week Ahead

Thursday

PFL Europe 1: 2024 Regular Season

Before PFL begins their usual regular season in the U.S., they will kick off their second-ever European season this Thursday. PFL Europe is the first of many offshoot leagues that the promotion plans to create, with successful fighters eventually being fed into their main season.

While two of the four PFL Europe divisions — men’s welterweight and lightweight — will compete on Thursday from the Accor Arena in Paris, France, a non-tournament fighter is receiving the most attention.

Former GLORY Kickboxing Champion Cedric Doumbe will return in the main event against undefeated welterweight prospect Baysangur Chamsoudinov. Doumbe won his promotional debut last year, stopping Jordan Zebo in just nine seconds. That fight received a load of attention, selling out a venue and seeing football star Kylian Mbappe in attendance.

Doumbe has a tough second assignment in the PFL. Chamsoudinov is coming over to PFL after putting together wins in the notable French promotion Ares FC. The 22-year-old has attained eight wins, including a win over UFC and Bellator vet Efrain Escudero.

Another major showcase bout will take place in the co-main event, as Abdoul Abdouraguimov will face Jack Grant. Abdouraguimov, also known by his nickname “Lazy King,” has earned belts in Ares FC and Brave CF in the past. He’ll try to follow up on his PFL debut, which was a win over Brad Wheeler last year.

Unlike PFL’s U.S. tournament, which sees fighters compete in a pair of “season” fights before a four-man bracket is formed, PFL Europe is a single elimination bracket for all divisions. Thursday’s show will see eight fighters in two different weight classes attempt to earn their first of potentially three wins this year. Among the field is undefeated Polish talent Jakub Kaszuba, who is the defending champ at lightweight. He’ll meet Kane Mousah, a fighter who is moving over to PFL Europe after a six-fight Bellator run.

Thursday’s show is expected to be available in Europe through DAZN. It has not yet been announced whether the U.S. will have an official feed.

Here’s a full look at the rare Thursday fight night card:

Main Card
Bout 13: Cedric Doumbe (5-0) vs. Baissangour Chamsoudinov (8-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 12: Abdoul Abdouraguimov (17-1) vs. Jack Grant (19-7) (Welterweight)
Bout 11: Ibrahim Mane (13-4) vs. Chequina Noso Pedro (8-3) (PFL Europe Welterweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 10: Yazid Chouchane (10-4) vs. Ignacio Capella (7-1) (PFL Europe Lightweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 9: Jakub Kaszuba (11-0) vs. Kane Mousah (14-5) (PFL Europe Lightweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 8: Yassin Najid (9-4) vs. Daniele Miceli (11-5) (PFL Europe Welterweight Quarter-Finals)
Preliminary Card
Bout 7: Patrick Habirora (1-0) vs. Claudio Pacella (3-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Marian Dimitrov (10-3) vs. Erhan Kartal (11-2) (PFL Europe Welterweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 5: Connor Hughes (8-1) vs. Anatolij Baal (10-3-1) (PFL Europe Lightweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 4: Aleksandr Chizov (10-2) vs. Daniele Scatizzi (12-7) (PFL Europe Lightweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 3: Tomasz Langowski (6-4) vs. Florim Zendeli (7-1-1) (PFL Europe Welterweight Quarter-Finals)
Bout 2: Mark Ewen (5-0) vs. Andreeas Binder (8-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Younes Najid (6-5) vs. Kevin Del (4-7-1) (Middleweight)

Friday

CFFC 130: Dorzhiev vs. Galvan

If you’re interested in following the U.S. regional scene, you’ll have a pair of notable cards to follow on Friday night. In the first of two American events we’re highlighting for Friday, a flyweight champ will return at CFFC 130 from the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida, USA.

Undefeated 125-pound division champ Badmatsyren Dorzhiev will compete in the main event against Israel Galvan. Dorzhiev earned a title in his promotional debut last July, going the distance against Shamel Findley for a decision win. In search of win number nine, he’ll now face Galvan, who has a rougher record of six wins and three losses. Galvan bounced back from an LFA loss when he appeared at CFFC 123 last year, handing Max Quinones his first loss.

Some notable names are expected to appear lower on the card as well. Two-time “Dana White’s Contender Series” alum Brandon Lewis will try to snap a two-fight skid when he faces Michael Billups. Invicta FC vet Serena DeJesus will also make her CFFC debut against Elizabeth Schroder.

Here’s the CFFC 130 lineup:

Main Card (9:00PM EST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 15: Badmatsyren Dorzhiev (8-0) vs. Israel Galvan (6-3) (CFFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 14: Hugh Pulley (10-6) vs. Blayne Richards (7-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 13: Max Quinones (4-1) vs. Jimi Natividad (3-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 12: William Rentz (3-2) vs. Marcellus Wallace (2-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 11: Phillip Latu (5-1) vs. Dylan Potter (10-6) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Marissa Ellis (1-0) vs. Emily Martins (1-0) (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 9: Caleb Hall (4-5) vs. Brandon Lopez (7-6) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: William Tarpley (4-3) vs. David Ciuclea (2-2) (Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Brandon Lewis (6-3) vs. Michael Billups (6-2-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Matthew Allison (2-0) vs. Hunter Starner (2-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Serena DeJesus (5-3) vs. Elizabeth Schroder (4-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Dylan Patlan (2-2) vs. Kristian Buendia (3-1) (Amateur Catchweight)
Bout 3: Bill Lewis (3-0) vs. Busurman Zhumagul (3-0) (Amateur Middleweight)
Bout 2: Frank Vallejo (2-0) vs. Alvaro Cabrera (1-0) (Amateur Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Zack Zindler (0-0) vs. Omar Zarazua (0-0) (Amateur Welterweight)

LFA 178: Satybaldiev vs. Assis

Around the same time that CFFC will take place, LFA 178 will go down from the KP Arena in Santa Cruz, California, USA. A new interim champ will be crowned in the main event when Uran Satybaldiev and Bruno Assis meet.

The winner on Friday will become the second current champ in LFA’s light heavyweight division. Bruno Lopes is the incumbent regular champ in the division, with his last win being a victory last January over Marcos Brigagao.

Assis is getting the title shot after moving up to light heavyweight last year. Assis spent a large portion of his career as a middleweight, eventually transitioning to the 205-pound division in 2022. He won his debut in the weight class, beating Jesse Murray at LFA 145. 

Assis will be trying for an LFA title for the second time in his career. He previously faced Ozzy Diaz in an early 2022 middleweight fight but was stopped in the first round.

Satybaldiev is coming off a successful first LFA appearance, overcoming Gabriel Thimoteo on scorecards last summer. He built up five wins and one loss before then, mainly competing in Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

Here’s a complete look at LFA 178:

Main Card (10:00PM EST / 7:00PM PST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 10: Uran Satybaldiev (6-1) vs. Bruno Assis (13-6) (Vacant Interim LFA Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 9: Miguel Jacob (8-2) vs. Jeff Crieghton (9-2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 8: Adam Wamsley (4-3) vs. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani (5-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 7: Chuck Campbell (6-3) vs. Ozzy Diaz (7-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Hussain Bakhsh Safari (7-2) vs. Stav Koren (3-0) (Catchweight 140 lbs)
Bout 5: Diego Bianchini (8-1) vs. Bakhromjon Mashrapov (7-3) (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 4: Cristian Giovannie (4-3) vs. David Solorzano (5-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Aris Arguello (0-1) vs. Edmund Kwan (1-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 2: Ryan Houston (1-0) vs. Chase Whitmer (1-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Jacob Horton (0-0) vs. Ueslei Alves Oliveira (0-0) (Welterweight)

ONE Fight Night 20: Todd vs. Phetjeeja

Singapore-based promotion ONE Championship will head back to Bangkok, Thailand for an International Women’s Day-themed card on Friday night. The nine-bout event will feature women competing in kickboxing, Muay Thai, grappling, and MMA.

Headlining the card will be Janet Todd and Thailand’s own Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom. Todd will be putting her 115-pound kickboxing belt on the line for the first time since earning it off Stamp Fairtex four years ago. She has mainly competed in Muay Thai since then, earning three wins and one loss in the promotion.

Phetjeeja was given a title shot after earning an interim kickboxing title win over Anissa Meksen last year. Similar to Todd, Phetjeeja has mainly competed in Muay Thai for ONE, winning four times since early 2023.

The co-main event will see Allycia Rodrigues attempt to defend her 115-pound Muay Thai belt against Cristina Morales. She successfully retained for the first time last year, beating Todd on scorecards. Rodrigues is coming off a loss this weekend after failing to capture a title up at 125 pounds last year. Morales, a former K-1 Japan fighter, picked up her first ONE victory late last year with a stoppage victory over Anna Jaroonsak.

In the top MMA fight of the night, undefeated strawweight Chihiro Sawada will face promotional vet Jihin Radzuan. Sawada has scored six victories since her 2021 debut, picking up a title in the Japanese regional promotion Shooto along the way. Radzuan, a ONE fighter since 2018, will be trying to build off a submission win she earned over Jenelyn Olsim last September.

Here’s how ONE Fight Night 20 looks at the moment:

Main Card (8:00PM EST / 8:00AM ICT) (Amazon Prime Video)
Bout 9: Janet Todd vs. Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom (ONE Kickboxing Atomweight Championship) (115 lbs)
Bout 8: Allycia Hellen Rodrigues vs. Cristina Morales (ONE Muay Thai Atomweight Championship) (115 lbs)
Bout 7: Jackie Buntan vs. Martine Michieletto (130 lbs Muay Thai)
Bout 6: Jihin Radzuan (9-3) vs. Chihiro Sawada (6-0-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 5: Ekaterina Vandaryeva vs. Martyna Kierczynska (Flyweight Muay Thai)
Bout 4: Lara Fernandez vs. Yu Yau Pui (Strawweight Muay Thai)
Bout 3: Victoria Souza (7-1) vs. Noelle Grandjean (4-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 2: Mayssa Bastos vs. Kanae Yamada (Strawweight Grappling)
Bout 1: Shir Cohen vs. Teodora Kirilova (Strawweight Muay Thai)

Saturday

UFC 299: O’Malley vs. Vera 2

Sean O’Malley will have the chance to get back his sole pro defeat when he takes on Marlon Vera at UFC 299. The fight, which will be O’Malley’s first time putting his UFC Bantamweight Championship on the line, will headline a pay-per-view card from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, USA.

Years before he became champion, O’Malley’s climb to the top of the bantamweight division had a bump in the road. In a fight where an ankle injury greatly hurt his mobility, O’Malley was stopped in the second round with strikes by Vera.

Despite O’Malley losing that fight and Vera winning, it was O’Malley who earned a title opportunity first. Vera’s runs toward the top of the division have received setbacks in recent years, including a 2023 loss to Cory Sandhagen and a 2020 defeat against Jose Aldo.

O’Malley went back to being a consistent winner in the fights following that 2020 defeat, picking up a total of five victories in recent years. After beating Petr Yan in 2022, O’Malley was given a title shot against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292. He put an end to the fight in the second round with a stoppage due to strikes, ushering in a new era for one of the most competitive UFC divisions.

Vera will look to earn his second win against O’Malley and claim UFC gold for the first time in his career. He’s receiving the title fight this weekend after beating Pedro Munhoz last year, marking his 15th victory since joining the promotion a decade ago.

UFC 299 is easily one of the strongest PPV lineups from the promotion in recent years. From the early prelims to the main card, there are lots of notable fights booked. Rising French lightweight Benoit Saint-Denis will try to get a big win in the co-main event, facing veteran Dustin Poirier.

Michael Page — a Bellator veteran known for his flashy fighting style — will get his UFC debut against Kevin Holland. A rising name at middleweight will also appear on the main card, as Jack Della Maddalena will try for UFC win number seven when he faces former title challenger Gilbert Burns.

The prelims include appearances from Mateusz Gamrot, Curtis Blaydes, Pedro Munhoz, Rafael dos Anjos, and many others, making it a stacked undercard. The prelims will also include the UFC debut of Robelis Despaigne, a 2012 London Olympic Games taekwondo bronze medalist who has beat his last three opponents in 18 seconds combined.

Here’s a look at UFC 299:

Main Card (10:00PM EST) (PPV)
Bout 14: Sean O’Malley (17-1) vs. Marlon Vera (23-8-1) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 13: Dustin Poirier (29-8) vs. Benoit Saint-Denis (13-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Kevin Holland (25-10) vs. Michael Page (21-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 11: Gilbert Burns (22-6) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (16-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: Petr Yan (16-5) vs. Song Yadong (21-7-1) (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EST) (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bout 9: Curtis Blaydes (17-4) vs. Jailton Almeida (20-2) (Heavyweight)
Bout 8: Katlyn Chookagian (18-5) vs. Maycee Barber (13-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Mateusz Gamrot (23-2) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (32-15) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: Pedro Munhoz (20-8) vs. Kyler Phillips (11-2) (Bantamweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EST) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 5: Philipe Lins (17-5) vs. Ion Cutelaba (17-9-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Michel Pereira (29-11) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (19-8) (Middleweight)
Bout 3: Robelis Despaigne (4-0) vs. Josh Parisian (15-7) (Heavyweight)
Bout 2: CJ Vergara (12-4-1) vs. Asu Almabaev (18-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Joanne Wood (16-8) vs. Maryna Moroz (11-5) (Flyweight)

10 Weekend Takeaways

Today, we’re debuting a new series for the Knockdown Daily newsletter. Monday editions will now include “10 Weekend Takeaways,” a quick-fire series of takes reflecting on the past few days in the combat sports world. These topics will range from serious, to playful, to sometimes being just a clip or photo that I want to share.

1. What was there, if anything, to take away from Gaziev/Rozenstruik? UFC has at least a notable fight or two taking place every week, and I don’t think it’s giving them too much credit to say that. But the real issue is that they don’t always make one of their more noteworthy fights the focal point of a card. Saturday’s UFC “Fight Night” event truly had an odd headliner. Shamil Gaziev, who had fought in the UFC just once before, was facing Jairzinho Rozenstruik, a once contender who is now in a gatekeeper role. No matter who won, this wasn’t even going to put a fighter even two wins away from a title shot. It was far removed from any real interesting storytelling in the division. Gaziev had a rough loss and proved that he’s not at the level of being a top-15 name in the division — that’s not a real “main event” story. There are some takeaways from the fight regarding how Gaziev looked, but that’s really it. The “where do we go from here” question can have big discussions after a UFC main event, like after Brandon Royval beat Brandon Moreno nine days ago. Where do we go after Saturday? I don’t know, Gaziev faces a low-level UFC heavyweight and Rozenstruik gets put against another rising name? Not really an interesting conversation.

2. The unlikely rise of Steve Erceg deserves more attention. Among the many interesting names to discuss at flyweight, I feel like it would be nice to see Steve Erceg get some extra shine. Erceg made his UFC debut on short notice against the much more established David Dvorak. He had a gutsy performance against Dvorak, earning an upset win and suddenly becoming one of the rising names at 125 pounds. He followed that up with wins over two more respectable names, beating Alessandro Costa last year and stopping Matt Schnell with a walk-off finish last weekend. Erceg came in on short notice and isn’t from a major MMA gym. Despite this, he’s going to get into the flyweight top 10 after just three UFC fights, and that’s wild.

3. This doesn’t sound fair: I want to put two link two news stories together from this week. On Tuesday, TKO Group Holdings announced that UFC produced $1.3 billion in revenue last year. Impressive! On Saturday, 11-fight UFC vet Tyson Pedro joked that since he just got paid his show fee (he lost, stopping him from earning his win money as well), after tax deductions he might need to rob someone. Record profits, tenured fighters saying they don’t earn enough. That’s a problem.

4. Three division champ? Not so fast. Anatoly Malkyhin earned yet another belt on Friday, beating Reinier de Ridder for the second time and taking a belt at 205 pounds in this instance. He now has three championships, holding titles in ONE’s 265, 225, and 205-pound divisions. Look, after another win against a notable ONE talent, there’s no doubt that Malykhin is good. But the conversation of his accomplishments is hard to consider outside of the ONE Championship context. One of his belts is at 225 pounds, a division that practically doesn’t exist outside of ONE Championship. In fact, it almost doesn’t exist even in ONE: Out of the 21 fighters listed as part of the division on the promotion’s site, just six have fought within the past year. Three belts is impressive, and Malykhin has some solid wins under his belt in the two victories over de Ridder. However, his three belts are a hard accomplishment to compare to fighters in other promotions.

5. ONE 166 had three great fights but lacked the hype arguably deserved. ONE 166 had a really solid lineup. Three different championship rematches with many big names in the promotion’s recent history. However, it lacked any real hype. Taking place on a Friday morning, during the hours when most U.S. viewers are at work, meant that it would receive little discussion from a huge share of the MMA fanbase. But even at the venue in Lusail, Qatar, it was just a hollow atmosphere.

6. Bare-knuckle MMA is not for the faint of heart. As part of writing the Sunday edition this week, I watched the Gamebred MMA main event between Junior dos Santos and Alan Belcher. If you don’t know, Gamebred is bare-knuckle MMA. Bare-knuckle MMA is almost unheard of, even though bare-knuckle boxing is definitely a thing currently and has tons of MMA fighters doing it. If you didn’t see the fight, it was bloody. There was a point in the second round where a huge pool of blood developed on the canvas and looked like a slipping hazard. Dos Santos, despite winning, looked like a horrifying gory mess by the end. I was sitting beside someone while watching and writing, and for a brief period of time I lowered my laptop screen, stopping them from seeing what could perceived at a glance as a combat sport or a Liveleak video. Bare-knuckle combat sports can look like a horror film, even when compared to a sport like MMA, which would already be called a horror film by some. Ironically, despite the bloody mess that bare-knuckle sports can become, a 2020 study claimed that it results in fewer concussions than combat sports involving gloves. While there are studies that suggest fighting without gloves is safer for the head than gloved bouts, the visual aspect of guys getting cut up makes it look much more violent. I’m not here to draw the line. While bare-knuckle can get bloody, MMA also has no shortage of nasty moments. Personally, I just felt a little squeamish after seeing dos Santos smiling with a huge dent in his nose.

7. Speaking of bare-knuckle MMA, is it MMA? One thing that trips up record-keeping for MMA is the lack of uniformity in the sport’s rules. Simply looking at someone’s record doesn’t tell you if they were in a fight that allowed grounded knees and kicks, or if a fight had a different time limit than the usual bout, or if they were in a fight like KSW held over a week ago, where both fighters were wearing gis that could be grabbed. I’ve been recently thinking about whether bare-knuckle MMA should or shouldn’t count toward people’s records. Among the record keepers, there is divided opinion. Wikipedia, Sherdog and Fight Matrix consider bare-knuckle as canon for someone’s record. Tapology, however, doesn’t. Does not wearing gloves change aspects of how a fight would go down? I would imagine it would, allowing for more cuts, a higher frequency of hand injuries, and so on. But is that difference so huge that it should be differentiated from the other fights on someone else’s record? That’s the question I’m wondering.

8. Makwan Amirkhani still has a lot of the same issues. Earlier this week, I published a profile on ex-UFC fighter Makwan Amirkhan before his OKTAGON debut. He pitched the idea that he had turned his life around and was laser-focused on his fight against Mochamed Machaev. In my piece on Amirkhani, I note that many were skeptical that he would do better following a 50/50 UFC run. I made mentioned of this because, as much as someone can believe they have changed, you have to actually see those results to believe them. Amirkhani got finished on Saturday, and his well-known cardio issues made him struggle following the first round. Fighters will sometimes be more mentally prepared than ever and will try to make you believe, but you never really know where they’re at until someone’s hand is raised inside the cage.

9. MMA needs more mascots. If you haven’t seen one of my million-or-so tweets about OKTAGON’s mascot, Gogi, let me fill you in. Gogi is an ape mascot of some sort who wears MMA gloves, shorts, and a headband. He’s in the background of fighter walkouts, eavesdropping in on the commentary desks, and sometimes hanging from the cage (but not when a fight is happening, of course). Gogi is simply lovely to have around. So, why don’t we see more mascots? Maybe PFL can have some sentient version of their “SmartCage” walking around? UFC could bring their old fighter character to life? Jokes aside, Gogi is just a subtle, but fun way to add a little extra flair to a broadcast. I think those little things can go a long way in elevating a brand.

10. Leave the fighting to the fighters. When UFC went to Mexico City, Mexico a couple of weeks back, one of the more viral moments of the night occurred when a brawl broke out in the crowd. Well, less than a full week later, we got a New Jersey remake of that moment. A massive fight broke out during the Ring of Combat 83 card on Friday night. The dust-up resulted in an event delay of about 15 minutes and caused what looked like more than two dozen attendees to get kicked out. Here’s a photo of the huge gap in seating, posted by attendee Patrick Danna. There’s something ironic about attending an event where guys can legally enact physical harm on each other, and then deciding to do the illegal version of that at the same time.

Notes On: UFC, Cage Warriors, OKTAGON & LFA

UFC

• Thiago Moises (17-7) has received a new opponent for UFC’s March 16th event. While Moises was originally expected to fight Brad Riddell, he’s now being paired against Mitch Ramirez (8-1), per Damon Martin of MMA Fighting. Ramirez is coming off a first-round finish win against Aireon Tavarres at LFA 173 late last year. He appeared on the 2022 season of “Dana White’s Contender Series,” losing to now fellow UFC fighter Carlos Prates. Moises is coming back after losing to Benoit Saint-Denis in September of last year.

• Chase Hooper (13-3-1) and Viacheslav Borshchev (7-3-1) will meet in a lightweight bout at UFC’s May 11th show, per Nolan King and Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie. Hooper scored a pair of wins last year, beating Nick Fiore on scorecards and stopping Jordan Leavitt with a rear naked choke. Borshchev will be trying to get back to his winning ways after fighting to a draw against Nazim Sadykhov last year.

• Ramiz Brahimaj (10-4) will face Themba Gorimbo (10-4) on UFC’s May 18th card, per Marcel Dorff. Brahimaj will be making his return, fighting for the first time in over two years. His last victory was a quick submission against Michael Gillmore. Gorimbo has won two consecutive fights, including a 32-second fight over short-notice opponent Pete Rodriguez last month.

Cage Warriors

• Reza Arianto (5-1) has the chance to bounce back from his first loss when he meets Robin Moosmann (3-0) at Cage Warriors 169 on March 30th from London, England. Arianto dropped his Cage Warriors debut to Julien Pierre Lopez, snapping a five-fight streak of wins that he developed on the Indonesian regional scene. Moosmann is entering the Cage Warriors roster after a 2021 rookie pro year, earning three wins in Germany.

OKTAGON

• OKTAGON 59 was announced for the Peugeot Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia on July 20th. The card, which has no further details revealed at the moment, is being billed as: “Summer Party.”

LFA

• Five fights, including the main event, have been announced for LFA 182 on April 26th from the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA:

  • South Dakota’s own Mitch McKee (5-0) will get his second LFA main event appearance when he faces Jose Hernandez (4-1). McKee has built up his record in LFA since late 2021, with his last fight being a decision victory over Sean McPadden. Hernandez has fought as a pro since 2018, earning four victories in that time. His sole defeat was against ONE Championship vet Tial Thang at LFA 156.

  • Haris Talundzic (6-2) will try to get back into the win column against Keyth Dawson (4-5). Talundzic was stopped in his last fight, getting finished by Daniel Frunza in the LFA 170 main event with just a second to go. Dawson will be trying to even his pro record after getting finished in 72 seconds by Mirafzal Akhtamov last year.

  • Nate Smith (7-4) will return to LFA for a fight against Christian Ynastrilla (10-4). Smith snapped a four-fight skid last year with a submission win on a Texas regional card. He had numerous losses before then, including an LFA title fight against Victor Altamirano and a “Dana White’s Contender Series” bout across from Jimmy Flick. Ynastrilla has put together four wins on the regional circuit since 2022.

  • Undefeated welterweights will collide when Matt Loi (2-0) and James Martin (1-0) face off.

  • After winning his pro debut on a Bellator card in 2021, Jesse Delgado (1-0) will return to MMA against Nicholas Gjelaj (1-0).