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We are here with another edition of Fights on Tap for you! This is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
The UFC either announced or finalized nine fights this week, and we finally have a headliner for UFC 300!
We were a few minutes removed from seeing Ilia Topuria finish Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past Saturday when Dana White uploaded a video from the Honda Center in Anaheim. In the video, the UFC CEO announced who would headline UFC 300, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. White and Co. have tapped newly minted UFC champion Alex Pereira for his first defense against Jamahal Hill.
2023 was quite a year for Pereira. He went from a loss to Israel Adesanya, a shift from middleweight to light heavyweight and a win against Jiri Prochazka for the then-vacant championship. For his first defense, ‘Po Atan’ never strayed from his first option in Hill, who he has wanted to fight since ’Sweet Dreams’ defeated his mentor, Glover Teixeira. Now that Hill has recovered from his Achilles injury, he and Pereira can finally share the Octagon.
Pereira vs. Hill is a fine fight. There are a lot of interesting questions around it, too. Can Pereira deal with Hill and his power? Can Hill return from injury and reassume his championship? I want answers, so I have no issue with this fight.
Announced UFC fights
UFC Vegas 87 — March 2
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bezkat Almakhan — bantamweight (First rep. by Front Kicked)
UFC Vegas 89 — March 23
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. AJ Dobson — middleweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
- Stephanie Luciano vs. Julia Polastri — strawweight (First rep. by Ag. Fight)
UFC Atlantic City — March 30
- Vicente Luque vs. Joaquin Buckley — welterweight (First rep. by Boardwalk Hall)
UFC 300 — April 13
- Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill — light heavyweight
UFC Fight Night — April 27
- Austin Hubbard vs. Michal Figlak — lightweight (First rep. by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania)
- Don’Tale Mayes vs. Caio Machado — heavyweight (First rep. by Team Machado)
- James Llontop vs. Gabe Green — lightweight (First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency)
UFC Fight Night — May 11
- Terrance McKinney vs. Esteban Ribovics — lightweight (First rep. by Gaston Reyno of ESPN Knockout)
Announced Bellator fights
Bellator 302 — March 22
- Tofiq Musayev vs. Alfie Davis — lightweight (First rep. by Matt Erickson and Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
- Fabian Edwards vs. Aaron Jeffrey — middleweight
- James Gallagher vs. Jeremy Kennedy — featherweight
- Tim Wilde vs. Manoel Sosa — lightweight
- Ciaran Clarke vs. Darius Mafi — bantamweight
- Nathan Kelly vs. Vikas Singh Ruhil — featherweight
- Abraham Bably vs. Isaiah Pinson — heavyweight
Good to see James Gallagher here against Jeremy Kennedy. To me, the ’Strabaninal’ was always poised for a championship opportunity, but he has had a few detours in his career so far. If he can get through Kennedy, he cements himself a contender in a new weight class.
Announced Cage Warriors fights
Cage Warriors 166 — February 23
- Devon Simons vs. Chadricc Kindle — heavyweight
- Elijah Harris vs. Giovanni Sarran — heavyweight
Cage Warriors 168 — March 16
- Adam Cullen vs. Harel Cohen — lightweight
Cage Warriors 169 — March 30
- Thomas Paull vs. Dimitry Solimeis — featherweight
- George Hardwick vs. Lucas Clay — lightweight
Cage Warriors 170 — April 6
- Sineadh Ni Nuallain vs. Jennifer Trioreau — catchweight (120 lbs.)
Cage Warriors 171 — April 20
- Scott Malone vs. Nicolas Leblond — flyweight
- Chris Bungard vs. Dumitru Girlean — lightweight
- Aidan Stephen vs. Gianluca Scottoli — bantamweight
- Paull McBain vs. Alberth Dias — featherweight
- Damon Donald vs. Matteo Martignoni — featherweight
- Carlo Pedersoli Jr. vs. Wallison Henrique — welterweight
- Michael Blair vs. Dec Dean — lightweight
- Keir Harvie vs. Kaique Modesto — bantamweight
- Ronal Siahaan vs. Igor Wojtas — flyweight
Sign me up for any George Hardwick fight. Dude is violent, and I expect nothing else when he gets into the Cage Warriors cage with Lucas Clay.
Announced KSW fights
KSW Epic — February 24
- Konrad Rusinski vs. Muslim Tulshaev — catchweight (181 lbs.)
KSW 92 — March 16
- Daniel Rutkowski vs. Julio Cesar Neves — featherweight
If you have read my most recent editions of Fights on Tap, you would understand my excitement for KSW Epic, so I was sad when we lost a fight. That was until KSW came through and found a short-notice replacement for Konrad Rusinski, who was originally scheduled against Andreas Berg Gustafsson in a No Holds Barred (!) fight. In for Gustafsson is Muslim Tulshaev, who is as violent as his upcoming opponent, so I love this replacement.
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