Hey punch affiicionados! We’ve got a pretty full weekend of combat sports, and luckily it’s not all bunched up around one day. Let’s take a look at who’s fighting and when the punches will be happening.
FRIDAY
Bellator is back in the US with a main event title fight. Former UFC lightweight champ Benson “Smooth” Henderson makes his Bellator debut against welterweight champ Andrey Koreshkov. Before that, though, are the prelims, streaming live online from both Bellator.com and Spike.com starting at 7PM ET. There aren’t a ton of notable names on that portion of the card, but I’ve found that most Bellator prelims are pretty entertaining due to the nice mix of young prospects and declining veterans and everyone is fighting to get noticed.
The main card starts at 8PM ET on Spike TV, and it kicks off with Michael “Venom” Page, one of the most dynamic strikers in all of MMA. We’ve also got Brennan Ward taking on Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, also in welterweight action. The co-main event is a featherweight scrap between former champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Henry Corrales. The main event is that aforementioned welterweight title fight between current champ Andrey Koreshkov and former UFC lightweight champ Benson “Smooth” Henderson.
SATURDAY
Hey look, it’s another UFC event with a stitched together main event! Because Daniel Cormier is an old dad and trains at AKA, he had to pull out of the fight against JAWN JONES. I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
The prelims start on UFC Fight Pass, as usual, at 6:30PM ET. The early prelims are a little thin on star power, but they finish off with two heavyweights throwing down, as Cody East makes his UFC debut against Walt Harris. The regular prelims, airing on Fox Sports 1, start at 8PM ET. We’ve got former strawweight champ Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza taking on Juliana Lima, plus Chris Kelades faces Sergio Pettis in flyweight action.
The main card is available only on pay per view, and that starts at 10PM ET. The final three bouts should be great, starting with Edson Barboza and Anthony Pettis trying to kick each other into component atoms at lightweight.
The co-main event is a flyweight title fight between undefeated challenger and Olympic wrestling gold medalist Henry Cejudo taking on Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. The main event is for an interim light heavyweight title as Ovince St. Preux steps in on short notice, replacing the injured regular champ Daniel Cormier as he welcomes the stripped former champ Jon “Bones” Jones back into the cage.
In probably the most foregone conclusion of the weekend, Gennady Golovkin takes on Dominic Wade. Both men are undefeated, but Golovkin sports not only a 34-0 record, but he’s also on a ridiculous 21-fight knockout streak. Triple G is putting his various middleweight belts on the line against Wade, who is 18-0, with a paltry 12 knockouts. The event will be on HBO starting at 10PM ET.
Join the Uproxx Sports crew for a fun live discussion of all the combat sports action this weekend. From the first Bellator prelim to the final question of the UFC post fight press conference, we’ll be here to talk fights with you!