Knockdown Daily 11/1/21: A Look At The Week Ahead
We take a look at the week ahead in the Monday edition
Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue will mainly focus on providing a preview for the upcoming week of MMA.
News
LFA Champion Bruno Souza Steps In To Face Melsik Baghadasryan At UFC 268
LFA Featherweight Champion Bruno Souza will get his first spot on a UFC card this weekend, stepping in on short notice to face Melsik Baghdasaryan at the promotion’s November 6th pay-per-view event.
News of the change was first reported by Marcel Dorff of MMA DNA.
Souza will be replacing TJ Laramie, who announced his departure from the card last week.
Souza has received the UFC call-up after a strong run in notable promotion LFA. He went undefeated in the promotion, picking up five wins since joining in 2019.
Souza claimed the LFA Featherweight Championship in August, going five rounds against Javier Garcia to pick up a unanimous decision win.
Baghdasaryan is coming off his first UFC win, which was a stoppage victory over Collin Anglin in late July. He was given a UFC contract last year after scoring a win on TV show “Dana White’s Contender Series.”
A Look At The Week Ahead
A somewhat busy week in MMA is starting soon. While there is LFA, Bellator and a “Contender Series” card to look at in the coming days, the main focus this week for many will be UFC’s stacked pay-per-view card on Saturday night.
Here’s a quick rundown of it all.
Tuesday
Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 5 Episode 10
The final episode in season five of “Dana White’s Contender Series” will air Tuesday. Like every week thus far, lots of prospects will take to the cage and fight for a UFC contract. This week includes BFL Lightweight Champion Achilles Estremadura, Bellator alum Justin Burlinson, CFFC Welterweight Champion Yohan Lainesse, and more.
Location: UFC APEX, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Main Card (8:00PM EDT / 5:00PM PDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass Canada)
Bout 5: Achilles Estremadura (7-0) vs. Maheshate (5-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 4: Yohan Lainesse (7-0) vs. Justin Burlinson (6-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 3: Qiu Lun (14-7) vs. Erisson Ferreira (10-1) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Jonas Bilharinho (8-1-1) vs. Canaan Kawaihae (6-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Shang Zhifa (32-7) vs. Juan Puerta (22-6) (Flyweight)
Friday
Bellator 270: Pitbull vs. Queally 2
Bellator will return to Dublin, Ireland for the first time in over a year on Friday. Their last visit was in February 2020, which turned out to be the promotion’s last event before the COVID-19 pandemic stopped business for five months.
Peter Queally and Patricky Pitbull will fight to become the new Bellator Lightweight Champion in Friday’s main event. The bout is a rematch, as a doctor stoppage earned Queally a win in their last fight.
The main event wasn’t originally set to be a title fight but was elevated to championship status after Patricky Pitbull relinquished his belt.
Location: 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
Main Card (5:00PM EDT / 9:00PM GMT) (Showtime)
Bout 15: Peter Queally (13-5-1) vs. Patricky Pitbull (23-10) (Vacant Bellator Lightweight Championship)
Bout 14: James Gallagher (11-1) vs. Patchy Mix (14-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 13: Daniel Weichel (41-12) vs. Pedro Carvalho (11-5) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (1:30PM EDT / 5:30PM GMT) (Youtube)
Bout 12: Daniele Scatizzi (10-5) vs. Brian Hooi (16-7) (Lightweight)
Bout 11: Ciaran Clarke (3-0) vs. Jordan Barton (6-1-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Danni Neilan (4-0) vs. Audrey Kerouche (7-5) (Strawweight)
Bout 9: Junior Morgan (3-0) vs. Darragh Kelly (0-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 8: Stephen Costello (0-0) vs. Yusu Nazokatov (0-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 7: Ilias Bulaid (2-0) vs. Georges Sasu (5-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 6: Ashley Reece (8-2) vs. Luca Poclit (6-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Lee Chadwick (26-15-1) vs. Arunas Andriuskevicus (15-4) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Nicolo Solli (3-1) vs. Bobby Pallett (5-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 3: Asael Adjoudj (2-1) vs. Keir Harvie (4-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Gokhan Saricam (5-1) vs. Rob Beech (5-2) (Heavyweight)
Bout 1: Fabian Edwards (9-2) vs. Robert Fonseca (13-4) (Middleweight)
LFA 117: Dias vs. Tanaka
LFA will return to the state of California on Friday night when presenting LFA 117. Bantamweights Ricardo Dias and Michinori Tanaka are scheduled to compete in the main event of the show in a non-title bout. Lower on the card is other LFA prospects like Mark Climaco, Batsumbere Dagvadorj and Yuma Horiuchi.
Location: Visalia Convention Center, Visalia, California, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 13: Ricardo Dias (10-4) vs. Michinori Tanaka (13-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 12: Yuma Horiuchi (8-4) vs. Mark Climaco (6-0) (Flyweight)
Bout 11: Kaleio Romero (6-1) vs. Ryan Fillingame (6-3) (Catchweight 150 lbs)
Bout 10: Emilio Williams (5-3) vs. Batsumberel Dagvadorj (7-2) (Catchweight 160 lbs)
Bout 9: Jose Avalos (6-2) vs. Luciano Ramos (8-6) (Catchweight 140 lbs)
Bout 8: Hyder Amil (4-0) vs. Robson Junior (3-1) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card
Bout 7: Christian Avalos (1-0) vs. Jeffrey Craig (0-0) (Catchweight 175 lbs)
Bout 6: Albert Gonzales (2-3) vs. Dominic Sumner (1-3) (Catchweight 175 lbs)
Bout 5: Brock Dias (0-1) vs. Carlos Figueroa (1-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Marcelino Silva (1-2) vs. Liovardo Garfias (1-2) (Amateur Catchweight 130 lbs)
Bout 3: Scott Hokit (0-0) vs. Raul Mendoza (1-1) (Amateur Lightweight)
Bout 2: Jadon Williams (0-0) vs. Elijah Ozuna (2-0) (Amateur Lightweight)
Bout 1: Xavier Chavez (1-0) vs. Ramon Juarez (1-0) (Amateur Welterweight)
Saturday
UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2
UFC has made an attempt to visit the historic sports and entertainment venue Madison Square Garden once a year since MMA was legalized in the state of New York six years ago. While the COVID-19 pandemic forced the promotion from doing anything there in 2020, they’ll return this weekend for their fifth show at the venue.
Two rematches will headline the card. In the main event, UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman will attempt to continue his dominant run as champion when facing Colby Covington. They first met in late 2019, where Usman picked up a late stoppage win after a back-and-forth stand-up battle.
After reclaiming the UFC Strawweight Championship in April with a head kick knockout, Rose Namajunas will look to defeat Zhang Weili for a second time at UFC 268.
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EDT) (PPV)
Bout 14: Kamaru Usman (19-1) vs. Colby Covington (16-2) (UFC Welterweight Championship)
Bout 13: Rose Namajunas (10-4) vs. Zhang Weili (21-2) (UFC Strawweight Championship)
Bout 12: Justin Gaethje (22-3) vs. Michael Chandler (22-6) (Lightweight)
Bout 11: Frankie Edgar (24-9-1) vs. Marlon Vera (19-7-1) (Bantamweight)
Bout 10: Shane Burgos (13-3) vs. Billy Qurantillo (16-3) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EDT) (ESPNews / TSN 5)
Bout 9: Andreas Michailidis (13-4) vs. Alex Pereira (3-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Al Iaquinta (14-6-1) vs. Bobby Green (27-12-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 7: Phil Hawes (11-2) vs. Chris Curtis (26-8) (Middleweight)
Bout 6: Edmen Shahbazyan (11-2) vs. Nassourdine Imavov (10-3) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Jordan Williams (9-5) vs. Ian Garry (7-0) (Welterweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EDT) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 4: Gian Villante (17-13) vs. Chris Barnett (21-7) (Heavyweight)
Bout 3: Aleksa Camur (6-2) vs. John Allan (13-6) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 2: Melsik Baghdasaryan (6-1) vs. Bruno Souza (10-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: CJ Vergara (9-2-1) vs. Ode Osbourne (9-4) (Flyweight)
Quick Jabs
Cedric Doumbe To Make MMA Debut: GLORY Kickboxing Welterweight Champion Cedric Doumbe will make his MMA debut on Monday, facing Arbi Emiev at SuperKombat. Doumbe has a decorated kickboxing career that includes four title fights in GLORY Kickboxing.
Shooto Japan Presents Two Title Fights: Shooto Japan will present its seventh event of the year Saturday, holding a card from USEN Studio Coast in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event, veteran Mina Kurobe will attempt to defend her Shooto Japan Atomweight Championship for the first time when facing SARAMI.
VTJ Returns: Shooto Japan spin-off promotion VTJ will return for the first time since 2016 on Saturday as part of a doubleheader of events in Tokyo. The card is scheduled to include veterans Shoko Sato and Caol Uno, along with undefeated prospect Tatsuro Taira.
Yorgan De Castro Comes Back To CES: Former UFC fighter Yorgan De Castro will return to action in the main event of Sunday’s CES card, facing Danyelle Williams in a heavyweight bout. The card will also include rising CES prospects Ashiek Ajim and Nathan Ghareeb.
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