Welcome to a Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily newsletter. If you have read this newsletter for a while, you know the drill for this day of the week: We’re going to look ahead to the top events taking place in the sport this week, then reflect on the past few days in the MMA world. Let’s begin.
Just a reminder: The Knockdown Daily does not publish on Tuesdays. We’ll be back Wednesday with the latest recap of all the top stories from the sport.
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A Look At The Week Ahead
Friday
CFFC 131: Fernandez vs. Dicke
U.S. regional promotion CFFC will present a three-title fight lineup on Friday evening when they head to the Hard Rock in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
CFFC plans to crown a champion during the evening, while also booking a pair of appearances with current titleholders.
Light heavyweight champ Luke Fernandez will get the main event spotlight, facing experienced fighter Will Dicke. Fernandez picked up the heavyweight title in just his third pro bout, stopping Peter New with punches. So far, he has only faced fighters with a similar experience level as him in his few fights. He’ll now face Dicke, a 38-year-old fighter with more than 26 pro bouts since his 2009 debut. He is a significant step up in competition for Fernandez, who has spent his entire career in CFFC since making his amateur debut in 2020.
Heavyweight champ Greg Velasco will also try to defend his belt for the second time on the main card, taking on undefeated prospect Bailey Schoenfelder. Velasco earned his title in 2022 and defended it last year against Ronald Coleman. He is returning to the title picture in CFFC after losing on the UFC reality TV show “Dana White’s Contender Series” to Shamil Gaziev last Fall, getting submitted in the opening round of their fight. Schoenfelder has four wins since turning pro in 2021, earning stoppages in Bellator and LFA. Friday will give Schoenfelder the chance to earn his first title as a pro and potentially fight deeper than the second round for the first time in his career.
Undefeated fighters will clash in the co-main event when Robert Varricchio and Morquez Forest battle for an interim lightweight title. Varricchio has earned a reputation for finishing fights quickly, with four of his pro bouts ending within the first round. Forest has spent his entire four-fight career in CFFC, stringing together a trio of finishes in that time. While both early in their pro runs, the meeting between Forest and Varricchio will be a big opportunity this weekend.
CFFC also initially planned to have an interim featherweight title fight on the card. While undefeated five-fight prospect Anthony Dilemme was originally booked to face eight-fight CFFC vet Frank Wells, the promotion’s site now says that Dilemme will face an opponent that will soon be announced. We’ll provide updates soon if any changes are made.
Here’s a full look at CFFC 131, which also includes nine non-title fight bouts lower in the lineup:
Main Card (9:00PM EDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 13: Luke Fernandez (3-0) vs. Will Dicke (19-7) (CFFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 12: Robert Varricchio (5-0) vs. Morquez Forest (4-0) (Vacant Interim CFFC Lightweight Championship)
Bout 11: Greg Velasco (6-1) vs. Bailey Schoenfelder (4-0) (CFFC Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 10: Anthony Dilemme (5-0) vs. TBA (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Mark Grey (6-0) vs. Vilson Ndregjoni (8-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 8: Eric Nolan (4-3) vs. R’Mandel Cameron (7-5) (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 7: Kevin Pease (4-0) vs. CJ LaFragola (2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 6: Armando Gjetja (8-4) vs. Kaecy Raddon (4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Matt Hammerstone (0-0) vs. Riley Palmer (1-0) (Catchweight 140 lbs)
Bout 4: Ricardo Fuentes (5-3) vs. Braydon Akeo (5-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Russ Korbul (3-0) vs. Nick Galanti (1-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Thomas Picciano (4-2) vs. Jartavis Jackson (2-0) (Catchweight 140 lbs)
Bout 1: Mike Curiel (0-0) vs. Giorgi Kvirchishvilli (4-0) (Heavyweight)
PFL 2024 #2
PFL’s regular season will roll on this weekend, as the promotion will present the beginning of its lightweight and light heavyweight tournaments from The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on Friday night.
Friday will give fighters from the 155 and 205-pound divisions their first of two changes this year to score regular season points, potentially putting them into the four-man, single-elimination bracket later in the year.
The sole defending champion in the PFL this year, Impa Kasanganay, will headline the card against Bellator alum Alex Polizzi. While a majority of PFL champs from 2023 won’t be competing this year for a variety of reasons, Kasanganay will be trying to follow up on a perfect year that saw him pick up four wins from the season to playoffs. Kasanganay will also be trying to regain momentum after losing a decision to Johnny Eblen on a PFL vs. Bellator-themed card in February.
Another big storyline to watch at light heavyweight will be returning former champs. 2022 titleholder Rob Wilkinson and 2021 champ Antonio Carlos Junior will both be competing this year, looking to become the first-ever repeat champions in the weight class after being nearly entirely absent from last year’s schedule.
While all PFL weight classes this year include Bellator talents, the lightweight roster will have a massive influence from that promotion. Patricky Pitbull, Mads Burnell, Brent Primus, Gadzhi Rabadanov, Adam Piccolotti and Jay Jay Wilson are among the names listed as part of this year’s field.
The card currently has 11 bouts set. A heavyweight showcase might also be added to the prelims, although PFL has yet to announce an opponent for listed fighter Marcelo Nunes. The top 10 matchups of the evening will all count toward the regular season, with the fight between Elvin Espinoza and Anthony Romero being listed as an “alternate” for the lightweight division.
Here’s the lineup:
Main Card (9:00PM EDT / 6:00PM PDT) (ESPN2)
Bout 11: Impa Kasanganay (15-4) vs. Alex Polizzi (10-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Rob Wilkinson (17-2) vs. Tom Breese (18-4) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 9: Clay Collard (24-12) vs. Patricky Pitbull (25-12) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Mads Burnell (18-5) vs. Michael Dufort (12-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Sadibou Sy (16-7-2) vs. Josh Silveira (12-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary card (6:30PM EDT / 3:30PM PDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 6: Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (21-7-1) vs. Jakob Nedoh (8-1) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Antonio Carlos Junior (15-5) vs. Simon Biyong (9-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Bruno Miranda (16-4) vs. Brent Primus (12-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Gadzhi Rabadanov (20-4-2) vs. Solomon Renfro (11-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 2: Jay Jay Wilson (10-1) vs. Adam Piccolotti (14-5) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Elvin Espinoza (9-0) vs. Anthony Romero (12-2) (Lightweight)
Saturday
UFC 300: Pereira vs. Hill
While we don’t know much about how the second half of 2024 will look, it might be an educated guess to say that UFC 300 will likely go down as the top MMA card of the year. The tri-centennial pay-per-view show will present a pair of high-profile title fights on Saturday, along with a start-to-finish stacked lineup from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
The two championship bouts of the evening represent four names that have built up their records in the promotion during the time since UFC 200 in 2016.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira, one-half of the card’s main event, has shown that with dominance and prior experience, it doesn’t take long to get to the top of the promotion. The former GLORY Kickboxing fighter joined the UFC roster in 2021 and earned a middleweight title in the promotion a little over a year later. After losing the belt to Israel Adesanya last year, he has rebounded and overcome Jiri Prochazka to become the king of 205 pounds.
Jamahal Hill, a fighter who made his UFC debut in early 2020, is looking to regain a belt that he never lost. Hill earned the light heavyweight title in early 2023, going a gruelling five rounds against Glover Teixeira to win on scorecards. He had to relinquish the title later that year due to an injury out of his usual training, cutting his run with the belt short. In his first appearance since suffering an injury, Hill will be trying to begin his second reign.
In the co-main event, UFC Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili will try to cement her second and current title run as her best yet when she fights Yan Xiaonan.
Zhang has held a belt at 115 pounds twice since her UFC debut in 2018. She initially captured the title in 2019, scoring a stunning 42-second finish against Jessica Andrade in her home country of China. She then came back in 2020 to deliver a “Fight of the Year” candidate, beating Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a hard-fought five-round split decision.
While Zhang was riding the momentum of a pair of big victories, her run with the title wouldn’t last much longer. She was stopped in just 78 seconds by Rose Namajunas in 2021, eating a head kick that put her title run to sleep.
Zhang got back on top of the division in late 2022, beating Carla Esparza in a dominant two-round fight. She then defended her title for the first time last year, overcoming Amanda Lemos on scorecards.
A win on Saturday would make Zhang just the second-ever champion in strawweight history to defend her title two or more times (the first was Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who defended her belt five times from 2015 to 2017). She’ll try to earn that victory against Yan Xiaonan, a strawweight fighter who has been on the rise in the UFC since 2017.
Yan is coming off a massive win over former champ Jessica Andrade, stopping her in the first round with strikes. While a slight hiccup in the early 2020s slowed her run toward a title, Yan’s history of wins in the division has made her a rightful challenger.
The strength of the UFC 300 card doesn’t necessarily come from the title fights on it, but instead from the overall star power of the card. The list of relevant UFC fighters or former champions on the card is lengthy. Names like Charles Oliveira, Aljamain Sterling, Cody Garbrandt, Jessica Andrade and Deiveson Figueiredo make up the prelims of the card alone.
The card will also include a clash between two fan favorites, as Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway will meet at lightweight. The fight will be five rounds and for the “B.M.F. Belt,” an alternate championship that is infrequently attached to fights to signify the quality of a matchup. Despite both being high-ranked contenders in their respective divisions, Gaethje and Holloway will put title hopes on pause for a week to face off in a fight that most expect will be a violent striking matchup.
Almost every matchup on Saturday’s card could pass as a PPV or “Fight Night” headliner. Here’s a look at how the card, which has remained entirely intact thus far, looks:
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (PPV)
Bout 13: Alex Pereira (9-2) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-1) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 12: Zhang Weili (24-3) vs. Yan Xiaonan (17-3) (UFC Strawweight Championship)
Bout 11: Justin Gaethje (25-4) vs. Max Holloway (25-7) (UFC Lightweight ‘B.M.F.’ Championship)
Bout 10: Charles Oliveira (34-9) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (21-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Bo Nickal (5-0) vs. Cody Brundage (10-5) (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT / 5:00PM PDT) (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bout 8: Jiri Prochazka (29-4-1) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (14-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Calvin Kattar (23-7) vs. Aljamain Sterling (23-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 6: Holly Holm (15-6) vs. Kayla Harrison (16-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Sodiq Yusuff (13-3) vs. Diego Lopes (23-6) (Featherweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EDT / 3:00PM PDT) (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bout 4: Jalin Turner (14-7) vs. Renato Moicano (18-5-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Jessica Andrade (25-12) vs. Marina Rodriguez (17-3-2) (Strawweight)
Bout 2: Bobby Green (31-15-1) vs. Jim Miller (37-17) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Deiveson Figueiredo (22-3-1) vs. Cody Garbrandt (14-5) (Bantamweight)
10 Takeaways From The Weekend
Discussing Brendan Allen, the UFC APEX, French MMA, Thursday night fights, and more.
With all due respect, Dricus Du Plessis isn’t next for Brendan Allen. I don’t want to take anything away from Brendan Allen’s performance. He had to evade the damaging shots of a dangerous striker and find a way to adapt and earn rounds on scorecards. It was a tough fight, the longest fight of his career thus far, and he showed heart. But did he show that he’s ready for a fight against middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis? Not yet, I feel. Allen has a long and impressive record at middleweight, but it’s missing that one big win that makes him the next man up. Beating Curtis, who was eight spots below him in the standings, didn’t add much to his case for the belt. He needs to take out a former champ or former challenger next, then we can talk about Du Plessis.
Credit must go to Chris Curtis. It takes two to tango, and Chris Curtis made an incredible dance partner for Brendan Allen on Saturday night. Curtis showcased crisp striking against Allen and presented a pressure-heavy style through five rounds, losing by an incredibly minuscule margin. The effort by him was great, but even more impressive when you remember that he took this bout on just a few week’s notice. In a few weeks’ time, Curtis got ready for a five-round fight and put together a game plan that had Allen in trouble. Saturday’s main event will be reflected as a loss on his record, but those who watched know that it was a performance he should hold his head high about.
The UFC APEX isn’t even a good studio atmosphere! While Saturday’s UFC card was low on high-stakes matchups, there’s no doubt that it provided a series of really strong performances near the top of the lineup. The stellar battle between Chepe Mariscal and Morgan Charriere won “Fight of the Night,” and there was an incredibly close main event fight between Brendan Allen and Chris Curtis, arguably exceeding expectations. Sadly, something that sucked the fun out of these fights had to be the atmosphere. I know you are tired of hearing about why the UFC APEX sucks, so here’s a special twist on the usual argument: Even if UFC wants to do studio shows, the APEX is horrible for it. I’m frequently covering events in small venues: LFA, CFFC, and even Cage Warriors at times. They all have better atmospheres. With my professional wrestling writing, I’m seeing shows in front of a couple hundred people that feel way more electric. The APEX is usually echoey, and half-full, and the fans are spread out among the warehouse-sized venue. I’ll meet UFC halfway: You’re deadset on doing studio shows semi-frequently, sure. But can you at least put some effort into the atmosphere of said show? Because many other events have proven that it’s possible.
Folks, we made it. It’s been four long, hard weeks in between UFC pay-per-view cards. We saw three trips to the UFC APEX, a few main event fights that have little implications for any main event picture. Hours of events that simply felt like content filler. But we’re past it. It’s now UFC 300 fight week. It’s time to discuss fights with big storylines, that actually have big implications. This stretch of low-quality UFC cards isn’t anything new, and we’re going to deal with it many more times later this year. But every time we get past that run of smaller events, it becomes clear how little effort UFC puts into making so many cards feel special or quality at all.
Salahdine Parnasse gets his chapter in the French MMA boom period. For years, it has been clear that France is a hot market for MMA. Trips to the country from UFC, PFL and even Bellator proved that there is an engaged and enthusiastic market there. It only made sense for Salahdine Parnasse to eventually get into the mix. The only issue? For the lengthy time that he has been unleashing terror on two divisions in KSW, the promotion had never made the trip to France. However, that changed this weekend. KSW made the trip to Paris this weekend, allowing Parnasse to get the big moment he has likely been waiting for. The lightweight champ defended his belt in one of his most dominant performances yet, finishing Valeriu Mircea in the first round in front of a hectic French crowd. It was satisfying to see one of the most prominent names in French MMA get a moment that had previously not been attained by him.
KSW has the perfect match for an eventual France return. I don’t know the details about what’s next for Salahdine Parnasse. There was chatter about whether Saturday was the last fight on his contract, and I saw people calling for him to join the UFC roster. But if he doesn’t make that move, there’s a perfect fight for him in KSW. Wilson Varela picked up a win in the co-main event on Saturday, as a freak injury stopped Marian Ziolkowski in the first round. Ziolkowski was notably the previous lightweight champ and had his title stripped from him due to injury. KSW has a fitting all-French title fight ready for them at lightweight, and I’m sure the Paris crowd would absolutely eat that up.
Thursday fight nights are cool, but maybe end before midnight? There is arguably an untapped market of weekday programming for MMA. If “Dana White’s Contender Series” can do well on Tuesday nights, why does MMA have to confine itself to Fridays and Saturdays only? PFL is doing something smart by having cards on Thursdays, going up against no other competition in combat sports. Friday evenings have been referred to as a “death slot” on TV, as a fair amount of viewers are out of the house on that day of the week. But here’s the issue: You have to end the cards at reasonable times. The first PFL regular season event of the year simply went too late. People have work the next day. They have things to do. You can’t run up against a midnight end time if you’re running a show on Thursday. PFL has something good going with the few Thursday shows that they have planned this year, but they should embrace ending at a time that is likely more reasonable for viewers.
Maybe PFL should examine its matchmaking. The PFL regular season follows a pretty simple model: Get wins, earn points. Finish fights, earn even more points. If you are able to bring the season format into MMA—a sport very much not designed for that model—that’s probably the way you should do it. But let’s be honest, not all fights were made equal. Take for example: Flyweight super-prospect Dakota Ditcheva, a massive -2500 favorite disposed of Lisa Mauldin in the first round to earn six points. Right after that, -180 favorite Liz Carmouche overcame former Bellator champ Juliana Velasquez via unanimous decision, earning her just three points. I acknowledge that it is impossible to make all fights equal for everyone, and I also know that season schedules in other sports are not entirely balanced (except for a model like the Premier League, where everyone plays every team twice, which of course cannot be done in MMA). With that being said, examples like the one given feel a little unfair to someone like Carmouche. Maybe the matchmaking could be tweaked a little.
PFL’s roster is so much stronger after adding Bellator talent. When watching PFL’s first regular season card of the year, it was clearer than ever what the biggest part of their Bellator acquisition was: Talent! So many top flyweights and heavyweights on Thursday came from the brand they absorbed: Valentin Moldavsky, Liz Carmouche, Kana Watanabe, Linton Vassell, and the list goes on. This year’s PFL rosters are a significant increase in quality compared to the seasons before, and it will likely make the product better than ever.
Two prospects to watch following LFA 181. A pair of names from Friday’s LFA 181 card are worth keeping an eye on. Igor Siquiera proved that he has absolute dynamite in his gloves in the main event, beating Eimar Hernandez in 67 seconds with punches. While Siqueira’s win was impressive, it would be great to maybe see him tested in a flyweight title unification bout at LFA before getting a bigger call-up. Quick finishes are always good for a fighter’s record, but a lengthier fight to see how he has grown since his 2023 LFA title loss would be amazing. Bantamweight prospect Quang Le moved his undefeated record to eight wins in the co-main event, stopping Tial Thang in the first round with a left hook. Le has looked great against increasingly solid talent. Similar to Siqueira I think he’s one more big fight away from getting that chance to move to a major promotion. No matter what happens to either guy, they’re worth keeping an eye on.