6/23/25: A Look At The Week Ahead
A preview of this week's top MMA events
Welcome to a Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily! It’s time for our weekly rundown of the top events happening around MMA. We have four major cards to highlight for you today, along with many other smaller events and shows taking place throughout the week. Let’s get started!
A Look At The Week Ahead
Friday
PFL World Tournament 2025 7
The semi-final round of PFL’s “World Tournament” will wrap up this Friday when the promotion presents a late-night card from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Much like the show they did two weeks back, Friday’s event will go late into the night, likely wrapping up around 1 a.m. locally. I’m sure this isn’t what they wanted, but it’s what they have to settle for to be able to present the show on ESPN’s main cable channel, instead of just ESPN+.
Friday’s card is busy, with tournament action at heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight.
Middleweight will get the main event spot, as Fabian Edwards, the brother of UFC’s Leon Edwards, will meet Josh Silveira.
England’s Edwards scored a massive win earlier this year, stopping 2023 PFL champ Impa Kasanganay in the second round with strikes. The two-time Bellator title challenger now has to get past Silveira in the main event spot of this weekend.
Silveira has competed in PFL tournaments since 2022, but a championship has yet to come his way. After getting eliminated in the semi-finals last year, a win this weekend would earn him a second-ever chance at winning in the grand finals.
On the other side of the bracket, ex-Bellator prospects Aaron Jeffery and Dalton Rosta, two rookies to PFL’s tournament system, will look to secure their first-ever major title shot in MMA.
Light heavyweight has a pair of veteran vs. prospect bouts. In the co-main event, long-time UFC and Bellator talent Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis will try to shut down a run from Ryan Bader's understudy, Sullivan Cauley. On the other side of the bracket, 2021 champ Antonio Carlos Junior will try to overcome 26-year-old finisher Simeon Powell.
Those who don’t want to stay up late will at least be able to watch the big boys in action as part of the prelims.
Rodrigo Nascimento will try to continue his post-UFC run by beating 2024 PFL finalist Oleg Popov. Also, past interim Bellator champ Valentin Moldavsky will face off against Moldova’s Alexandr Romanov, who needed less than two minutes to beat Tim Johnson earlier this year.
Along with the tournament bouts, Friday’s lineup will feature a matchup between former Bellator Bantamweight Champions Sergio Pettis and Raufeon Stots. It’s a bout that Bellator tried to make back in 2022 amid Pettis’ run with the belt, but ultimately didn’t happen at the time due to the then-champ suffering a torn ACL.
Here’s how PFL’s card looks currently:
Main Card (10:30PM EDT) (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bout 9: Fabian Edwards (14-4) vs. Josh Silveira (14-4) (Middleweight Semi-Final)
Bout 8: Phil Davis (25-7) vs. Sullivan Cauley (7-1) (Light Heavyweight Semi-Final)
Bout 7: Sergio Pettis (23-7) vs. Raufeon Stots (21-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Dalton Rosta (10-1) vs. Aaron Jeffery (16-5) (Middleweight Semi-Final)
Bout 5: Antonio Carlos Junior (17-6) vs. Simeon Powell (11-1) (Light Heavyweight Semi-Final)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 4: Valentin Moldavsky (14-4) vs. Alexandr Romanov (19-3) (Heavyweight Semi-Final)
Bout 3: Biaggio Ali Walsh (2-0) vs. Ronnie Gibbs (1-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 2: Rodrigo Nascimento (12-3) vs. Oleg Popov (20-2) (Heavyweight Semi-Final)
Bout 1: Rafael Xavier (13-8) vs. Karl Albrektsson (14-7) (Light Heavyweight)
Saturday
OKTAGON 73: Eckerlin vs. Pukac
There will be some notable action going down across Europe before UFC takes the spotlight on Saturday night.
First up will be OKTAGON, which is heading to the Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany, for a 10-fight card.
The headlining fight of the evening will see Germany’s own Christian Eckerlin return against Robert Pukac. The German vet is riding the momentum of a win in the main event of an OKTAGON card late last year, which took place in front of nearly 60,000 fans in his home country.
However, arguably the more enticing fight on the card is the co-main event, which sees flyweight champ Beno Adamia take on former UFC talent Zhalgas Zhumagulov.
Kazakhstan’s Zhumagulov has been on a roll since his seven-fight UFC run came to an end in 2023. After a pair of wins in his home country, Zhumagulov entered OKTAGON with a big win late last year, taking out former title challenger Aaron Aby in a three-round performance.
He now looks to get by Adamia, a Georgian talent who has gone unbeaten since late 2021. The 29-year-old worked a hard five rounds against English regional veteran Sam Creasey earlier this year, getting him a narrow split decision win to kick off his reign. A win this weekend would make him the first flyweight champ in OKTAGON history to successfully defend the belt, something Creasey or inaugural champ Elias Garcia ever had the chance to do.
Earlier on the card, ex-UFC talent Niklas Stolze will be in action, as will be Brazilian vet Joilton Lutterbach, a former PFL talent who missed out on a UFC opportunity last year after a failed drug test.
Here’s the bout order:
Main Card (12:00PM EDT / 6:00PM CET) (OKTAGON PPV)
Bout 10: Christian Eckerlin (17-6) vs. Robert Pukac (19-13-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Beno Adamia (12-8-2) vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (17-9) (OKTAGON Flyweight Championship)
Bout 8: Kaik Brito (17-6) vs. Joilton Lutterbach (40-9) (Welterweight)
Bout 7: Jonas Magard (17-7) vs. Farbod Nezhad (12-3-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Niklas Stolze (14-7) vs. Jessin Ayari (18-6) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Adam Palasz (9-4) vs. Kasim Aras (9-5) (Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Marek Bartl (14-14) vs. Omar Amasha (6-3) (Catchweight 176 lbs)
Bout 3: Vojto Barborik (15-3) vs. Richie Smullen (14-3-1) (Catchweight 150 lbs)
Bout 2: Wahed Nazhand (9-2) vs. Ioannis Palaiologos (20-14-1) (Catchweight 175 lbs)
Bout 1: Altin Zenuni (0-0) vs. Tibor Balazs (3-2-1) (Lightweight)
Cage Warriors 191: Gittins vs. Giordano 2
After their first meeting left more to be desired, Liam Gittins and Alessandro Giordano will run things back this weekend at Cage Warriors 191 from the BEC Arena in Manchester, England.
Cage Warriors Bantamweight Champion Gittins went into enemy territory in March when he faced off against Italy’s own Giordano in Rome. Their competitive fight ended in a way that nobody wanted, as an unintentional eye poke caused a no-contest finish in the third round.
Now, just a little over three months later, they have a chance to do things over. A victory for Gittins would add to an already impressive run, which includes past wins over American prospect Roberto Hernandez and respected Scottish talent Reece McEwan. For Giordano, who was an underdog in their first meeting, a successful outing would be easily the biggest win of his career thus far.
Just before the headliner, Finland’s Omar Tugarev and England’s James Power will battle it out for interim lightweight gold in a five-rounder. As main Cage Warriors champ Samuel Silva is busy with “Contender Series” duties this summer, the bout will find the promotion’s next big prospect in the class.
Cage Warriors loves to load up their cards, and a total of 14 fights are currently expected for Saturday. It’s worth noting that a portion of this lineup will take place at 1 p.m. as part of a prelim card; it just hasn’t been specified which bouts will be on that lineup just yet. We’ll update you in a future newsletter once a bout order is confirmed.
Anyway, here’s what we expect will take place:
Main Card (3:00PM EDT / 8:00PM BST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 14: Liam Gittins (13-4) vs. Alessandro Giordano (9-3) (Cage Warriors Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 13: Omar Tugarev (7-0) vs. James Power (7-1) (Vacant Interim Cage Warriors Lightweight Championship)
Bout 12: Michael Pagani (7-2) vs. Tim Wilde (17-6-1) (Catchweight 165 lbs)
Bout 11: Adam Cullen (9-2) vs. Lukas Cruz (10-3) (Lightweight)
Bout 10: Teddy Stringer (5-0) vs. Torpal Merjoev (5-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 9: Shay Ingram (2-0) vs. Farukh Aligadzhiev (4-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Joe Fields (4-0) vs. Davide Scarano (6-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Connor Wilson (6-3) vs. Florian Doskja (6-4) (Flyweight)
Bout 6: Chris Prise (6-1) vs. Tony Silva (9-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Mariusz Mikolajewski (1-1) vs. Samir Selmi (2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 4: Yusuf Nazokatov (2-1) vs. Ryan Campbell (2-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Fran Breen (3-1) vs. Mario Ferreira (1-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Christian Soda (0-0) vs. Chris Morris (0-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Sheldon Ryan (3-3) vs. Brad Camps (2-0) (Flyweight)
UFC 317: Topuria vs. Oliveira
A new lightweight champion of the world will be crowned at UFC’s “International Fight Week” in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Headlining a pay-per-view lineup from the T-Mobile Arena, former featherweight king Ilia Topuria will take on past lightweight champ Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155-pound belt.
All title fights in Topuria’s UFC career have followed a trend of a past generation in MMA running up against a star who is currently in the prime of his career. The Georgian-Spaniard faced two future Hall of Famers when he had a brief featherweight championship run last year, facing Alexander Volkanovski and then Max Holloway.
Topuria’s wins over the two greats, finishing them both without needing championship rounds, were what made him a “Fighter of the Year” winner in this newsletter. However, while he had many more big opportunities to chase at featherweight—meeting rising names like Diego Lopes, Movsar Evloev or even Lerone Murphy down the line—Topuria decided to move up to lightweight instead, citing a less stressful weight cut.
It seemed briefly that Topuria was near a potential super-fight against Islam Makhachev following the move, putting the #1 and #4 pound-for-pound talents against each other. But, we learned just a few months ago that it’s currently a time of change for Makhachev, too, as he vacated his title and set his sights on a move up to welterweight against current champ Jack Della Maddalena.
With the Makhachev fight escaping Topuria, the 16-fight undefeated talent now finds himself in a position he is all too familiar with: Trying to take down an established figure who is best known for his success during a past generation of the sport.
Oliveira, a two-decade UFC fighter who briefly carried the promotion’s title in 2021, will be trying to become the first-ever two-time champ in lightweight history this weekend. However, oddsmakers see that as quite an uphill battle, placing him at +300 underdog odds.
A 2023 first-round finish win against Beneil Dariush and a five-round performance last year against Michael Chandler have proven that Oliveira can hang with high-level figures in the division. But a failed title bid in 2022 against Makhachev and a loss at UFC 300 last year against Arman Tsarukyan have called into question how he could fare against top-five talent in the class.
A win on Saturday for Oliveira would be one of the most impressive victories of his career, not just due to the recent success of Topuria, but because of when this fight comes in his career. Few can climb their way back into a title reign, and even less can do so at 35 years old, 45 fights into their career. It would be a massive accomplishment for a fighter who has already likely solidified themselves as a future Hall of Famer.
Whoever wins on Saturday has big challenges ahead. Namely, a fight against first-ranked contender Arman Tsarukyan, who only missed out on a shot at the title earlier this year due to an injury. On Saturday, during the marquee summer card from UFC, we’ll find out if it’ll be the 10th-ever two-division champ in Topuria who claims top status at lightweight, or if it’ll be the return of fan-favorite Oliveira, proving that he still has some greatness left in the tank.
The co-main event will see UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja face a familiar opponent in Kai Kara-France.
Nearly a decade after they faced off during Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” a two-round meeting that saw Pantoja prevail, they’ll once again face off in Vegas, this time in front of thousands of fans with a five-round time limit.
Pantoja has cleaned out the flyweight division in recent years, leaving few strong contenders remaining. After getting past Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, and Kai Asakura in recent years, this weekend offers a chance to defend his title for the fourth time, a level of success in the class that nobody—obviously apart from Demetrious Johnson—has ever attained.
Kara-France re-emerged as a contender in the division when he made quick work of former title challenger Erceg last August, stopping him within the first round via strikes. While the City Kickboxing talent has explosive hands and has taken down many respected names in the division, he enters this Saturday as a moderate underdog.
While the prelims have been a bit of a mess for this lineup, with many last-minute matchups, there are a few intriguing battles higher up on the card.
Rising flyweight Joshua Van will get the biggest test of his career as part of the main card when he faces Brandon Royval. A win on Saturday would mark Van’s fifth victory a year, including a one-sided stoppage just earlier this month against Bruno Silva.
Appearing for the first time since a short-notice title shot earlier this year, Renato Moicano will take on Beneil Dariush. And hoping to bounce back from his first pro defeat, highly touted bantamweight prospect Payton Talbott will have a tough return bout, meeting former OKTAGON champ Felipe Lima.
Here’s how the card looks currently:
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (PPV)
Bout 12: Ilia Topuria (16-0) vs. Charles Oliveira (35-10) (Vacant UFC Lightweight Championship)
Bout 11: Alexandre Pantoja (29-5) vs. Kai Kara-France (25-11) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 10: Brandon Royval (17-7) vs. Joshua Van (14-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 9: Beneil Dariush (22-6-1) vs. Renato Moicano (20-6-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Payton Talbott (9-1) vs. Felipe Lima (14-1) (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT / 5:00PM PDT) (ESPN / ESPN+)
Bout 7: Jack Hermansson (24-8) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (16-6) (Middleweight)
Bout 6: Hyder Amil (11-0) vs. Jose Deldago (9-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 5: Viviane Araujo (13-6) vs. Tracy Cortez (11-2) (Flyweight)
Bout 4: Terrance McKinney (16-7) vs. Viacheslav Borshchev (8-5-1) (Lightweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EDT / 3:00PM PDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Sedriques Dumas (10-3) vs. Jackson McVey (6-0) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Jhonata Diniz (8-1) vs. Alvin Hines (7-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 1: Niko Price (16-8) vs. Jacobe Smith (10-0) (Welterweight)
And now time to highlight a few other events taking place this week…
This week’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter” will include a flyweight matchup between Kazakhstani regional champ Alibi Idiris (10-0) and Uzbekistani finisher Furkatbek Yokubov (14-4) in the quarter-final round. Idiris has been a force in his home country’s Naiza FC promotion, including a brief title reign at 125. Yokubov enters the “TUF” house after four consecutive finish wins on the regionals. This is a solid matchup for prospect watchers on Tuesday. (Watch: ESPN2)
UFC’s “International Fight Week” in Las Vegas will kick off Thursday with the promotion’s annual Hall of Fame ceremony. This year’s class of inductees feature Vitor Belfort, Mark Kerr, Robbie Lawler, Amanda Nunes, “TUF” producer Craig Piligian, and the 2019 fight between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum. (Watch: UFC Fight Pass)
Peruvian former UFC fighter James Llontop (15-5) will try to defend his interim FFC title for the first time when he meets Dante Romero (8-7) on Thursday night in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Llontop won in his return to the regionals in March, beating Yuri Neles. (Watch: UFC Fight Pass)
Cage Warriors will present another card on Friday night, just 24 hours before they host a title fight doubleheader in Manchester. As part of their “Unplugged” series, which presents fights in front of an invite-only crowd, a series of notable European prospects will be in action. The main event of the night will see 11-fight Cage Warriors vet Aiden Lee (13-9) take on Sweden’s Alexander Loof (7-3), who is trying to come back after losing a pair of big bouts in the promotion recently. (Watch: UFC Fight Pass)
On Sunday, Tuff-N-Uff arguably has the most interesting U.S. regional card this weekend. Returning after an upset win earlier this year to claim featherweight gold, veteran Diego Brandao (30-22) will try to get past “Contender Series” alum Canaan Kawaihae (10-2), who is looking for his fifth straight regional win. The lineup also features ex-UFC names Kai Kamaka III (15-6-1) and Juancailo Ronderos (5-2), former PFL champ Ray Cooper III (25-11-1), and welterweight prospect Itso Babulaidze (5-0). (Watch: UFC Fight Pass)
The biggest focus of the boxing world this weekend won’t be some major title fight, but instead Jake Paul (11-1) meeting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (54-6-1) in a 10-round cruiserweight match inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday. This is Paul’s first appearance since that infamous fight against Mike Tyson last year. I’m not sure what the story here is apart from “Here he is again,” but it’s enough to convince DAZN to put this card behind a pay-per-view price of $59.99. There’s actually some interesting boxing earlier on the card, including Tevin Farmer (33-8-1) taking on 22-year-old up-and-comer Floyd Schofield (18-0). Holly Holm (33-2-3) will also notably make her return to boxing in a 10-rounder against Yolanda Vega (10-0). (Watch: DAZN PPV)