4/24/24: Bellator Paris Loses Lightweight Title Fight
Also: PFL fighters express frustration following regular season bout announcements
Welcome to a Wednesday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s a busy issue, with tons of stories from around the MMA world. We have headlines touching on a wide variety of topics today, from PFL and Bellator fights and “Road To UFC” tournaments to business acquisitions. Let’s get started.
Bellator Lightweight Title Fight Removed From May 17th Paris Card
Bellator’s return to the Accor Arena in Paris, France won’t be a double title fight evening.
News broke Monday that the championship fight between lightweight champ Usman Nurmagomedov and Alexander Shabliy left the lineup. The promotion stated that an undisclosed injury forced Nurmgomedov out of the bout and that they hope to re-book the fight in the future.
The cancelled bout comes amid drama between Shabliy and PFL, which owns the Bellator brand. In numerous instances, Shabliy has been vocal about having not signed a contract for the fight yet.
“I hope it’s happening, but as of now, it still hasn’t been finalized,” he told MMA Fighting in late March. Similar comments were mentioned in a recent livestream by the fighter.
Nurmagomedov and Shabliy both competed in the Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix last year and made the finals of the tournament. However, due to a drug test that Nurmagomedov failed in a semi-final bout, he was taken out of the bracket late last year.
PFL looked to book the once-finalists up in a title fight after they acquired Bellator late last year. A matchup between the lightweights will have to wait even longer if it will eventually happen.
A previously booked bantamweight title fight between Patchy Mix and Magomed Magomedov will now headline the card.
Along with the removal of a title fight, Bellator also announced that French star Cedric Doumbe will return to action in the co-main event spot. While he was announced to face Derek Anderson, it was revealed Tuesday that Anderson has already been forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury.
Doumbe, a wildly popular kickboxer-turned-MMA fighter, will be trying to bounce back from his first pro loss. He suffered a controversial defeat last month, as a splinter in his foot caused a third-round finish loss against Baysangur Chamsoudinov.
PFL Receives Criticism From Fighters After Revealing Headlining Matchups For June 13th Card
Some fighters have expressed concern over PFL matchmaking as the promotion gears up for its second leg of the regular season in June.
PFL announced the headliner and co-main event for their June 13th show in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. The card will feature the second and final regular season round of matchups in the flyweight and heavyweight divisions, giving talent a last chance at earning points before four-fighter single-elimination playoff brackets are set.
In the headlining spot, Valentin Moldavsky will face Linton Vassell. In the bout to come before it, undefeated Dakota Ditcheva was booked against Chelsea Hackett. In both instances, a fighter coming off a first-round finish win (Moldavsky and Ditcheva) will go up against an opponent who is returning after suffering a finish defeat in April.
Shortly after PFL announced the pair of bouts, two fighters competing as part of the tournament expressed frustration in the matchmaking. Flyweight talent Jena Bishop commented on social media: “Bruh!! The favoritism is unreal! The PFL is SHADY AF!!!!”
Heavyweight Daniel James provided a lengthy post on Instagram explaining his point of view: “I think the PFL organization is showing a lot of favoritism for guys that they want to push and I am not here to make friends with none of them,” he said. “I am here to win and putting myself in a position to do so. They are putting me in a position where I have to make sure I win because they have their guys that they want to try to pat on the back and pamper to the top but it’s all good.”
PFL has yet to release the full lineup for their June 13th card. However, ESPN currently has a 12-fight lineup for the card on their site. The matchups, which haven’t been announced by the promotion yet, see Bellator vets Tyrell Fortune and Gokhan Saricam slotted in to replace Marcelo Golm and Ante Delija. Golm and Delija notably both suffered first-round finish losses earlier this month. You can see all of the fights here.
Savannah Marshall vs. Mirela Vargas To Headline June 8th PFL Europe Card
The MMA debut of an accomplished boxer will headline PFL’s second trip to Europe this year.
Savannah Marshall will step into the PFL cage for the first time on June 8th, meeting Mirela Vargas in a three-round lightweight contest. The bout will headline a card from the Utilita Arena in Newcastle England.
Marshall, a former Claressa Shields opponent and current WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO champion at super middleweight, has put together an accomplished pro career in boxing since debuting in 2017. She last fought in July, going 10 rounds against Franchon Crews-Dezurn to win her debut in the super middleweight division.
She’ll now mix it up with Vargas, an MMA fighter with a pro record of one win and two losses since her late 2021 debut. Vargas won her pro debut on the Brazilian regional scene in just 12 seconds but has since lost back-to-back first-round finish losses against Daiane Silva.
Before the lightweight main event, PFL will continue its second-ever European championship season. Eight-fighter, single elimination brackets at men’s bantamweight and women’s flyweight kick off on the June card.
The women’s flyweight bracket will crown a new champion this year, as 2023 winner Dakota Ditcheva was promoted to the main PFL tour after her three-finish run. The field this year includes undefeated English talent Shanelle Dyer, 2023 finalist Valentina Scatizzi, Georgia regional vet Mariam Torchinava, and others.
The 2023 men’s bantamweight champ Khurshed Kakhorov will try for his second consecutive title this year, starting his bracket run against Kikadze Bondo. Frans Mlambo, who appeared in the finals of last year’s tournament against Kakhorov, will return once again and start his tournament against former Cage Warriors Flyweight Champion Luke Shanks.
The lineup will also include a welterweight tournament bout between Bellator alum Jack Grant and 21-fight veteran Charlie Leary. The winner of the bout will join Ibrahima Mane, Daniele Miceli and Florim Zendeli in the semi-finals, all whom punched their ticket to the next round on the first European card of the year.
Here’s a full look at the evening in Newcastle:
Bout 14: Savannah Marshall (0-0) vs. Mirela Vargas (1-2) (Lightweight)
Bout 13: Kane Mousah (14-6) vs. Dylan Tuke (7-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 12: Jack Grant (19-8) vs. Charlie Leary (17-13-1) (Welterweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 11: Dean Garnett (12-2-1) vs. Ayton De Paepe (12-4) (Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 10: Shanelle Dyer (4-0) vs. Mariam Torchinava (9-2) (Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 9: Ibragim Ibrahimov (6-0) vs. Josh Reed (13-8) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Frans Mlambo (15-6) vs. Luke Shanks (10-4) (Bantamweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 7: Lizzy Gevers (3-1) vs. Sammy-Jo Luxton (2-0) (Flyweight Quater-Final)
Bout 6: Mark Ewen (5-0) vs. Mathias Poiron (7-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Khurshed Kakhorov (12-1) vs. Bondo Kikadze (8-3-1) (Bantamweight Quater-Final)
Bout 4: Valentina Scatizzi (2-2) vs. Marie Loiseau (6-4) (Flyweight Quarter-Final)
Bout 3: Ben Woolliss (2-0) vs. Maher Belkhadir (1-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Alexander Luster (7-1) vs. Alperen Karabulut (10-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Dee Begley (4-5) vs. Paulina Wisniewska (2-0) (Flyweight)
‘Road To UFC’ Season 3 Set To Begin In May
The third “Road To UFC” season will kick off next month in China.
Like previous seasons, the tournament looks to find new prospects from Asia to join the UFC roster. Regional prospects will compete in eight-person brackets, with the winner being signed to the promotion.
The upcoming season includes fighters from China, South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. The first round of the tournament will take place on May 18th and 19th from the UFC Performance Center in Shanghai.
The lightweight division has been swapped out for strawweights this year, giving women their first tournament since the series was launched in 2022. Returning will be the flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight.
At flyweight, season two finalist Jiniushiyue will get a second shot at the bracket. He won the quarter and semi-final rounds of his tournament last year but was finished in the finals by undefeated Japanese talent Rei Tsuruya.
Also returning will be featherweight Shin Haraguchi, who suffered his first pro loss when he was submitted by Rongzhu in the finals earlier this year.
Shohei Nose will be trying to win the tournament for the third time. After being a finalist in 2022 and losing in the opening round last year, Nose is coming back after a pair of wins in Japan, including a RIZIN victory over promotional vet Kenta Takizawa.
Along with the returning names, many first-timers will compete in the tournament. While the exact lineups for the two dates in Shanghai haven’t been revealed, including which fights will take place on the first or second days, the matchups for the tournament were released recently. Here’s how they look:
Strawweight
Feng Xiaocan (8-2) vs. Kiran Singh (6-3)
Huang Feier (14-8) vs. Miki Motono (8-4)
Priya Sharma (5-1) vs. Dong Huxiang (11-2)
Shi Ming (14-5) vs. Seo Ye-dam (7-3)
Flyweight
Jiniushiyue (13-3) vs. Choi Dong-hoon (6-0)
John Almanza (6-0) vs. Angad Bisht (9-3)
Ranal Panales (5-1) vs. Toki Matsui (6-1)
Kiru Singh Sahota (10-2) vs. Yin Shuai (16-4)
Bantamweight
Yoo Soo-young (11-3) vs. Shohei Nose (12-4-2)
Daermisi Zhawupasi (8-1) vs. Ren Ozaki (6-0-2)
Kim Kyu-sung (12-5) vs. Tokitaka Nakanishi (11-3)
Jieleyisi Baergeng (16-5) vs. TBD
Featherweight
Shin Haraguchi (7-1) vs. Hong Jun-young (13-7-1)
Zhu Kangjie (18-4) vs. Tatsuya Ando (14-3-1)
Masuto Kawana (9-3) vs. Song Jae Young (6-0-1)
Xie Bin (11-4) vs. Hamid Amiri (9-0)
Triller Purchased By Hong Kong-based Company, Will Go Public
Triller, a company that owns pay-per-view distribution service Triller TV and owns bare-knuckle boxing promotion BKFC, has been purchased.
Hong Kong-based company AGBA Group Holding Ltd. purchased the company with the deal closing as early as the end of next month, per Samantha Masunaga of the Los Angeles Times.
The deal will accomplish the long-sought-after goal from Triller top leaders to bring the company public. AGBA is currently listed on NASDAQ, with shares being worth just under $3 as of Tuesday evening.
Triller’s main brand is a video service that attempts to rival TikTok. However, in the combat sports world, the company is known for Triller TV, an online pay-per-view service that distributes notable combat sports and professional wrestling events. The platform, formerly known as FITE, was acquired by the company in 2021. It hosts events from BKFC and RIZIN, along with other regional MMA promotions.
The company acquired a “majority stake” in bare-knuckle boxing promotion BKFC in early 2022, beginning significant investment into a brand that had long been broadcasted on the streaming service that they now own.
As mentioned in the LA Times report, increased interest was taken to the Triller social media platform after a political movement started to potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. This has only done so much for the app, as it still struggles to receive a fraction of the colossal audience that TikTok currently possesses.
Notes On: UFC, ONE Championship, KSW & Cage Warriors
UFC
Alatengheili (16-9-2) will meet Kleydson Rodriguez (8-3) at UFC’s May 18th “Fight Night” card, per an announcement from Alatengheili’s management team. Rodrigues is coming off a first-round submission loss to Farid Basharat last September. Alatengheili is also coming off a loss, having dropped a decision to Chris Gutierrez last year.
Joshua Van (10-1) recently said on social media that opponent Sumudaerji (16-6) has pulled out of their June 1st matchup at UFC 302. Van, a fighter with a trio of wins since making his UFC debut in mid-2023, has seen two different fights fall through in recent months.
Appearing for the first time since losing a title fight, Mayra Bueno Silva (10-3-1) will meet Macy Chiasson (9-3) at UFC 303 on June 29th, per an announcement made by the promotion. Bueno Silva went five rounds against Raquel Pennington in January, losing via decision in the end. Chiasson is coming off a first-round submission against Pannie Kianzad from last month.
Gabriel Bonfim (15-1) will face Ange Lossa (10-3) at UFC’s July 13th card, per a post from his management team. Bonfim suffered his first pro loss late last year, getting stopped by Nicolas Dalby. Loosa walked away with a no contest last month due to an eye poke. Before then, he had a pair of wins in the UFC.
UFC will hold an event on July 20th, per a recent announcement from Iridium Sports Agency. The first fight booked for the card is a lightweight bout between Loik Radzhabov (18-5-1) and Trey Ogden (17-6). Radzhabaov bounced back from his first UFC loss last month, stopping Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady with strikes. Ogden also got back to the win column in March, beating veteran Kurt Holobaugh on scorecards.
The UFC APEX venue will be used as a venue for the WWE NXT event “Battleground” on June 9th, per an announcement.
ONE Championship
Undefeated Ben Tynan (6-0) will try for his third ONE Championship win on June 7th when he faces Mauro Cerilli (15-5), per Nolan King of MMA Junkie. Tynan scored a quick victory in his last outing, stopping Duke Didier in the first round. Cerilli’s last appearance, a September 2023 bout against Paul Elliott, saw him win due to injury.
KSW
Adrianna Kreft (5-1) will have the chance to bounce back from her first pro loss when she meets Mafalda Carmona (5-2) at KSW 94 on May 11th. After previously earning two wins in KSW, Kreft dropped a decision to Yasmin Guimaraes last August. Carmona has earned a pair of wins since late 2022 on the European regional scene.
Cage Warriors
A pair of fights have joined Cage Warriors 172, which will go down on May 25th in Newcastle, England.
U.S.-based prospect Chasen Blair (4-2) will make the overseas trip to face Arturs Leisans (9-7). Blair earned a first-round finish win on a Cage Warriors card two months back. Leisans, a fighter who has competed all around the European regional scene, will be making his promotional debut.
Rising lightweights James Power (6-1) and Daniel Kolasinski (5-1) will collide. Power has scored three wins and one loss since joining Cage Warriors in mid-2022. Kolasinski is coming off a pair of victories from over the past year.
The first fight for Cage Warriors’ return to San Diego, California, USA on June 7th has been announced. Seven-fight promotional vet Damon Wilson (6-2) will meet Brandon Carrillo (3-2). Wilson last fought nearly a year ago, losing to experienced talent John De Jesus. Carrillo lost his Cage Warriors debut late last year, getting stopped by Corvan Allen.