After a little bit of less than stellar weekend combat sports live discussions, we’ve finally got a super-packed two days! I’m really excited for all of the punches, kicks, elbows, knees, throws, slams, chokes and locks we’ll see, so let’s get right into it, friends!
FRIDAY
We’ve got another Fight Pass card on Friday night, as the action comes to us from Sydney, Australia. The fun stuff begins at 7:00 PM ET. There’s some good fighters on the prelims, including Marcus “Dragon Ball Z, y’all!” Brimage taking on Jumabiake Tuerxun, plus there’s a flyweight contest between Richie Vaculik and Louis Smolka, and flyweights are like 99% guaranteed to be fun.
The main card, also on Fight Pass, should start around 10:00 PM ET. We start with the big boys, as heavyweights Soa Palele-i-ei-o and Walt Harris clash in sweaty rage. Robert Whittaker and Clint Hester are going to throw hands at middleweight, we’ve got Ross Pearson taking on Ragin’ Al Iaquinta, and finally, the main event between Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold. Should be a good card!
Friday night rolls on with some fun kickboxing as Glory 18 comes to us from Oklahoma City. The event should kick off around 9:00PM ET. There’s going to be a 4-man light heavyweight tournament, which is always fun. There’s also a lightweight title fight between Davit Kiria and Robin van Roosmalen. If you haven’t seen the fight between Kiria and Andy Ristie that won Davit the title, take some time out of your life to watch it, it is fantastic. I really don’t understand how kickboxing isn’t more popular, since it is all forms of striking, plus the action is a little more fast-paced due to the fights typically being three 3-minute rounds. Yay for boxing with kicks!
SATURDAY
This UFC event will be from Uberlandia, Brazil, which sounds a little like it was founded by fleeing Germans, right? Anyway, the card begins with one Fight Pass prelim at 7:30 PM ET as Wagner Silva throws down with Colby Covington (Who?). The regular prelims then move to Fox Sports 2 at 8:00 PM ET. There’s Tommy Almeida taking on Timmy Gorman, Dhiego Lima faces off against “Blade” Oliveira, “Hellboy” versus “Hot Sauce” and yet another installment of “Watch Charlie Brenneman’s Afro Flail Around as He Gets His Brains Punched Out” as “The Spaniard” takes on Leandro Silva.
The main card will be on Fox Sports 1 starting at 10:30 PM ET, and things start with my pick for fight of the night, as strawweights Juliana Lima and Nina Ansaroff do battle. Handsome Man Alan Jouban returns to the octagon has he takes on Warrlley Alves, flyweight contenders Ian McCall and John “More Churrasco, Please” Lineker throw hands in the co-main event. The main event is the result of a slew of injuries, but it’s finally been nailed down as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua taking on Ovince St. Preux.
World Championship Boxing: Hopkins vs Kovalev
The weekend ends with a high note as all 49 years of Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins takes on devastating Russian knockout artist Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in a light heavyweight title unification bout. The fight will be on HBO starting at 10:45 PM ET. There are some other fights on that card, obviously, but all I care about is Old Man vs Russian Death Machine. Even though Bernard is pretty much the dirtiest fighter alive, I’m rooting for him because he’s a damn grandpa out there being world champion.
Let’s have fun in the comments with two MMA events and two boxing cards, one of which has kicks! That’s super cool, you guys!
