Hey fight fans, it is time for three cards full of mixed martial arts action! I’m excited, so let me try and get y’all hyped with what is going down this weekend in combat sports.
THURSDAY
I know Thursday isn’t technically the weekend, but screw that, we’ve got fights! World Series of Fighting is back and there’s some good stuff here. The event kicks off with online prelims at 5:45 PM ET, then the main card starts at 7:00 PM ET on the NBC Sports Network. Everyone’s favorite hobo-drifter Cody McKenzie has un-retired and is back in action. There’s also a bantamweight title fight as Marlon Moraes defends his belt against the undefeated Josh Hill. Should be a decent appetizer-type card.
FRIDAY
On Friday, things start to get crazy. Bellator MMA returns to us with a pretty good looking card. The prelims will begin at 8:00 PM ET on Spike.com. As usual, I’m pretty ignorant of the dudes on the prelims, but the main card looks solid. That starts at 9:00 PM ET on Spike TV, beginning with two undefeated welterweights, Chris Honeycutt and Clayton MacFarlane trying to hand each other the first loss. There’s also a women’s featherweight contest between Julia Budd and Gabrielle Halloway, which should be exciting. Speaking of featherweights, Daniel Weichel and Pat Curran are squaring off at 145 pounds, possibly to determine the next title challenger.
The main event is guaranteed to give at least three people in the audience a second-hand concussion from the shockwaves as two middleweight death-dealers go at it. Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef brings his gladiator skirt and “elephant gun knuckles” into the Bellator cage against former champion, Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko, who will look to land a plethora of spinning sh*t. If this fight goes the distance, I will be very upset.
SATURDAY
Finally, on Saturday, is the big dog, UFC Fight Night 60, live from Broomfield, Colorado! Fight Pass has one prelim, it starts at 7:30 PM ET as James Moontasri welcomes Cody Pfister to the cage. The bulk of the prelims are on Fox Sports 1 starting at 8:00 PM ET. There’s a flyweight scrap, the only bout to feature two ranked fighters, as Zach Makovsky takes on Tim Elliott, Chas Skelly throws down with Jim Aliers at featherweight, lightweights Efrain Escudero and Rodrigo de Lima face each other, and in the People’s Main Event, Nik Lentz takes on Levan Makashivili at featherweight. I’m expecting big things out of those flyweights, but that’s because I always look forward to flyweight fights.
The main card is also on Fox Sports 1, starting at 10:00 PM ET. Like the prelims, we start with flyweights as Chris Kelades takes on Ray Borg, there’s a lightweight bout as Kevin Lee faces Michel Prazeres, and also a welterweight contest as the streaking Neil Magny takes on Kiichi Kunimoto.
The co-main event is a featherweight clash between Cole Miller and Max Holloway in what should be a fun fight. The main event is a welterweight tilt that’s seen some shake-ups, but we’ve finally got a fight sorted out. Brandon “Rukus” Thatch is welcoming former lightweight champ Benson Henderson to 170 pounds.
It looks like we’ve got a really great three days of fights on tap, friends. Let’s watch the hell out of the action!
