Hey there, fight fans. After UFC 195 and Brutal Bob Lawler providing another fight of the year candidate, the entire MMA world needed to take some time off. Now that we’ve all had a week to recover, it’s time for another weekend of combat sports. Let’s delve into who’s getting beat up by whom.
SATURDAY
Invicta and its cadre of ladies is back on Saturday night, which apparently is alright for fighting. The entire event will be on Fight Pass starting at 9PM ET. We’ve got Christine “Knuckle Up” Stanley, my 2015 knockout of the year provider, taking on Katy Collins in early flyweight action. There’s also Ediane Gomes, the woman I’d give the best odds when fighting a tank, facing Amanda Bell at featherweight. There’s back-to-back strawweight Fun Times as Mizuki Inoue faces Lacey Shuckman, and former TUF contestant, Angela Hill, faces Alida Gray. The co-main and main events feature two titles at stake, as first, Livia Renata Souza defends her strawweight belt against DeAnna Bennett, while in the main event, Cris “Cyborg” Justino puts her featherweight title on the line against newcomer Daria Ibragimova.
SUNDAY
While this card doesn’t have the sheen of potential ULTRAVIOLENCE like UFC 195 did, it still looks pretty good to me, even with the usual smattering of injury replacements on the undercard. The fights start at 6PM ET on Fight Pass with a healthy selection of early prelims. Charles Rosa will be welcoming BJJ mega-ace Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes to the UFC. Also on the early prelims, we’ve got what should be a fantastic fight as Paul Felder and Daron Cruickshank face each other in lightweight action. These dudes love punching and kicking, so I’m expecting someone to take a brief nap.
The regular prelims are on Fox Sports 1, starting at 8PM ET. There’s a welterweight fight between Patrick Cote and Ben Saunders that I’ve got my eye on.
The main card, also on FS1, begins at 10PM ET. It’s only a four-fight main, so there’s a chance it doesn’t run too late into early Sunday morning for the east coasters out there. Things start off with Ross Pearson taking on Francisco Trinaldo in lightweight action, then it’s on to the Beef Boyz, as Travis Browne faces Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight bout. The co-main event is a battle between former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and Eddie Alvarez. That should be a fun fight!
The main event is a bantamweight title fight between TJ Dillashaw and the former king, Dominick Cruz. Cruz was never defeated for the title, but the overwhelming array of injuries forced him to relinquish the belt. He’s now presumably healthy (He made a brief return in 2014, but got hurt before the ink was dry on his contract to face Dillashaw for the title) and itching to become the king of the mountain again.