Knockdown Daily 1/17/22: A Look At The Week Ahead
We take a look at the week ahead in the Monday edition
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Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue will provide a preview for the week ahead in MMA, and will also brief you on the latest news from the sport.
News
Kota Onojima Earns Decision Win Over Nobuki Fujii, Claims Shooto Pacific Rim Bantamweight Belt
Kota Onojima claimed the Shooto Japan Pacific Rim Bantamweight Championship on Sunday night, going three rounds against Nobuki Fujii for a unanimous decision win.
The fight headlined “Shooto 2022 Opening Round,” which took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Onojima’s win came through a solid striking performance through three rounds, dictating the pace in a slow three-round fight. He was the clear leading fighter in exchanges and entered the final round with a solid lead.
Fujii’s best moment was in the third round briefly, as he got on the back of Onojima and attempted a rear naked choke.
The belt was recently vacated by Tatsuya Ando, who gave up the title so he could challenge for the promotion’s main bantamweight championship.
Onojima was placed in the title position after going undefeated over the past two years. This includes three wins and two draw outcomes. He more recently scored a decision win against Seigo Yamamoto, beating him in October.
Fujii also entered the event with momentum, as he had scored two wins previously. However, he was coming off a break, as his prior appearance was in January 2021.
A full report on Shooto Japan’s first event of 2022 can be read here.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (4:00AM EST / 6:00PM JST) (AbemaTV)
Bout 1: Masatoshi Abe def. Atsushi Makigaya via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Keiichiro Kudo def. Takeaki Kinoshita via TKO, Strikes (RD 1)
Bout 3: Megumi Sugimoto def. Salt via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Miku Nakamura def. Yuki Ono via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 5: Hisae def. Haruna Kato via Submission, Armbar (RD 1)
Bout 6: Mina Kurobe def. Momoka Hoshuyama via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Jo Arai def. Takemasa SKINNYZOMBIE Kiuchi via TKO, Strikes (RD 1)
Bout 8: Sho Usami Patrick def. Kazumasa Sugawara via TKO, Strikes (RD 1)
Bout 9: Rinya Nakamura def. Yasuyuki Nojiri via TKO, Strikes (RD 1)
Bout 10: Kota Onojima def. Nobuki Fujii via Decision, Unanimous (Vacant Shooto Pacific Rim Bantamweight Championship)
Drakkar Klose To Return Against Brandon Jenkins At April 16th UFC Event
Drakkar Klose will fight for the first time in over two years soon, meeting Brandon Jenkins at UFC’s April 16th card. News of the lightweight matchup was confirmed Saturday by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting.
Klose’s return was originally scheduled to happen against UFC newcomer Nikolas Motta. However, the promotion reportedly changed plans and gave Motta a new opponent for his debut.
Klose has been out of the cage since early 2020. This has in-part been due to numerous bookings falling through. He was notably scheduled to meet veteran Jeremy Stephens on a card in 2021, but an injury before the fight forced him off the card. In controversial fashion, the injury was suspected to be from a shove that Stephens gave Kattar during their face-off a day before.
Klose’s last fight was a stoppage loss to Beneil Dariush in early 2020. He had a strong three-fight winning streak before then.
Jenkins lost his UFC debut in September against Rongzhu. This came just a month after he scored a highlight reel flying knee knockout against former UFC fighter Jacob Kilburn on a PFL card.
A Look At The Week Ahead
Friday
LFA 122: Johnson vs. Mota
LFA Flyweight Chahmpion Charles Johnson will attempt to hand Carlos Mota his first pro loss on Friday night, meeting him in the main event of an LFA card.
Johnson is currently on a strong three-fight winning streak in LFA. He most recently scored a stoppage win, defeating Joao Camilo with punches in August. This came just a month after he went five rounds with Yuma Horiuchi in a title fight.
Mota enters the fight with an undefeated record of six wins and no losses. He scored his second LFA victory in July, defeating Jefferson Oliveira.
Location: The Factory at the District, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Main Card (9:00PM EST / 8:00PM CST) (UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 8: Charles Johnson (10-2) vs. Carlos Mota (6-0) (LFA Flyweight Championship)
Bout 7: Brant Moore (9-1) vs. Arthur Estrazulas (12-5) (Lightweight)
Bout 6: William Starks (7-2) vs. Glaucio Eliziario (9-7) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Fred Freeman (3-3) vs. AJ Cunningham (8-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Dan Moriarty (1-0) vs. Jett Shell (2-1) (Catchweight 130 lbs)
Preliminary Card
Bout 3: Brittney Cloudy (3-3) vs. Annette Nichols (2-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Will Monroe (10-2-1) vs. Avery Wilson (5-0) (Amateur Heavyweight)
Bout 1: Jacob Highly (2-0) vs. Arvin Mills (2-11) (Amateur Welterweight)
Saturday
UFC 270: Ngannou vs. Gane
UFC will present their first pay-per-view event of 2022 on Saturday night, holding UFC 270 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, USA.
In the main event, UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou will attempt to defend his belt for the first time. He has a tough challenge in front of him, meeting undefeated interim titleholder Ciryl Gane in a five-round bout.
A trilogy fight will take place in the co-main event, as flyweights Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo will battle for the promotion’s belt.
NOTE: The lineup listed below is not the official one for this weekend. It is expected that the order for fights, and which part of the card the fights will happen on, will be announced later this week by the promotion.
Location: Honda Center, Anaheim, California, USA
Main Card (10:00PM EST / 7:00PM PST) (PPV)
Bout 13: Francis Ngannou (16-3) vs. Ciryl Gane (10-0) (UFC Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 12: Brandon Moreno (19-5-2) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (20-2-1) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 11: Michel Pereira (26-11) vs. Andre Fialho (14-3) (Welterweight)
Bout 10: Cody Stamann (19-4-1) vs. Said Nurmagomedov (14-2) (Bantamweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EST / 5:00PM PST) (ESPN2 / TSN 5)
Bout 9: Rodolfo Vieira (8-1) vs. Wellington Turman (17-5) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Raoni Barcelos (16-2) vs. Victor Henry (21-5) (Bantamweight)
Early Prelims (6:00PM EST / 3:00PM PST) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 7: Tony Gravely (21-7) vs. Saimon Oliveira (18-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Michael Morales (12-0) vs. Trevin Giles (14-3) (Welterweight)
Bout 5: Vanessa Demopoulos (6-4) vs. Silvana Gomez Juarez (10-3) (Strawweight)
Bout 4: Matt Frevola (8-3-1) vs. Genaro Valdez (10-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Jasmine Jasudavicius (6-1) vs. Kay Hansen (7-4) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Ilia Topuria (11-0) vs. Charles Jourdain (12-4-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Jack Della Maddalena (10-2) vs. Pete Rodriguez (4-0) (Welterweight)
Column
JMMA Monday: Musayev’s Move, LDH Investing In MMA, And More
For this week’s JMMA Monday, I shared some quick thoughts on a variety of topics. This included Tofiq Musayev’s signing with Bellator, the emergence of LDH prospects on the recent Shooto Japan card, and more.
If you want some quick JMMA takes plus a briefing of the news from this week, this article is for you.
You can read the most recent JMMA Monday here.
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