After a very brief lull period of fights in the MMA calendar, the sport is back with a bang with four big events in the lead up to holiday season.
Three big regional shows in Combate Americas, KSW and ONE Championship will be hoping to make a splash on Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, MMA promotional titan UFC return with an ESPN card.
Read on to find out where and when these cards are taking place, as well as who is fighting on the card. We’ll also throw in some viewing details so you can watch the action for yourself.
Friday 6 December – ONE Championship: Mark of Greatness
ONE Championship like their Friday cards.
ONE: Mark of Greatness is a hybrid event taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with two world championship kickboxing bouts – pitting Sam-A Gaiyanghadao versus Wang Junguang, and Alaverdi Ramazanov against Zhang Chenglong – headlining the show.
There are also a couple more kickboxing and Muay Thai fights thrown in for good measure.
However, there is plenty of MMA fights to whet your appetite before the headline acts.
You can watch ONE’s events live on its ‘Super App’. Download it from either the App Store or on Google Play – visit here for ease. Check local listings for fight times in your region.
Full fight card:
Strawweight Kickboxing World Championship: Sam-A Gaiyanghadao vs. Wang Junguang
Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship: Alaverdi Ramazanov vs. Zhang Chenglong
Atomweight: Jihin Radzuan vs. Denice Zamboanga
Welterweight: Agilan Thani vs. Dante Schiro
Flyweight: Gurdarshan Mangat vs. Reece Mclaren
Light Heavyweight Kickboxing: Andrei Stoica vs. Anderson Silva
Strawweight: Ryuto Sawada vs. Bokang Masunyane
Flyweight Muay Thai: Lerdsila Phuket Top Team vs. Elias Mahmoudi
Bantamweight: Muhammad Aiman vs. Chen Rui
Bantamweight: Tial Thang vs. Kim Woon Kyoum
Catchweight (72.0 KG): Rodian Menchavez vs. Yoon Chang Min
Flyweight Muay Thai: Rui Botelho vs. Taiki Naito
Flyweight: Sovannahry Em vs. Rayane Bastos
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
Saturday 7 December – KSW 52: Race
European MMA giants KSW returns to Poland for the first time since May to hold its final show of this decade.
KSW 52: Race features a top-level KSW catchweight contest between middleweight champion Scott Askham and long-time Polish MMA legend Mamed Khalidov, who has held KSW championship gold as both a light heavyweight and middleweight.
Khalidov briefly retired from MMA following two Champion vs. Champion fights against KSW light heavyweight kingpin Tomasz Narkun. But the 39-year-old’s return to the sport was announced at KSW’s London show back in September.
Meanwhile, England’s Askham has looked in stellar fighting form since signing with the Poland-based organisation, racking up three wins by knockout in all three appearances in the KSW cage, winning the title in the process.
Elsewhere on the card, there are some interesting fights with permutations on the European scene.
The co-main event features an KSW interim featherweight championship bout between the supremely talented Frenchman Salahdine Parnasse and Slovakian veteran Ivan Buchinger.
For the Polish fans in attendance in Gliwice, a catchweight contest pitting two popular former Olympic medal winners in Damian Janikowski and Szymon Kolecki is sure to grab plenty of attention in the country.
For those outside of Poland, the easiest way to watch these KSW fights is with Fite.TV on pay-per-view. Head here for pricing information and timings in your local area.
Full fight card:
Catchweight: Scott Askham vs. Mamed Khalidov
KSW Interim Featherweight Championship: Salahdine Parnasse (ic) vs. Ivan Buchinger
Catchweight: Damian Janikowski vs. Szymon Kołecki
Lightweight: Shamil Musaev vs. Grzegorz Szulakowski
Flyweight: Karolina Owczarz vs. Aleksandra Rola
Lightweight: Vinicius Bohrer vs. Artur Sowiński
Welterweight: Michał Michalski vs. Albert Odzimkowski
Lightweight: Michael Dubois vs. Maciej Kazieczko
Heavyweight: Srđan Marović vs. Michał Włodarek
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
Saturday 7 December – Combate Americas: Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto Del Rio
Now here’s an interesting event to set your eyes upon this weekend.
Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio returns to MMA to take on former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the main event of Combate Americas’ show on Saturday night.
Del Rio, who ‘won’ gold during his time at WWE, was of course once known as Dos Caras Jr. and has fought 14 times in MMA competition.
His contest with Ortiz will be the first time the Mexican has competed in almost 10 years.
On the other side of this catchweight bout, Ortiz has seen a marked rise in form. He has only fought five times since 2014, but he has strung together four wins from those, beating the likes of former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko, former UFC light heavyweight champion and long-time rival Chuck Liddell, as well as former three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen.
You can watch Combate Americas: Tito vs. Alberto on pay-per-view on all kinds of platforms, depending where you’re based – namely Fite.TV, Facebook Watch (prelims only), PlayStation TV, and there the usual PPV carriers in the USA like DirecTV and DISH.
Head here to get a more detailed breakdown on fight times.
Full fight card:
Catchweight: Tito Ortiz vs. Alberto “El Patrón” Rodriguez
Atomweight: Melissa Martinez vs. Desiree Yanez
Flyweight: Dani Barez vs. Joao Camilo
Featherweight: Levy Marroquin vs. Enrique Gonzalez
Catchweight: Gaston Reyno vs. Rey Trujillo
Catchweight: Dulce Garcia vs. Anali Lopez Hernandez
Lightweight: Jose Flores vs. Clarence Brown
Featherweight: Ricky Palacios vs. Jose Ceja
Lightweight: Victor Martinez vs. Luis Luna
Catchweight: Elias Urbina vs. Mike Tovar
Catchweight: Edmilson Freitas vs. Raymond Banda
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
Saturday 7 December – UFC on ESPN 7: Alistair Overeem vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
UFC on ESPN 7: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik takes place at Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena on Saturday night and it’s headlined by a gargantuan heavyweight fight pitting two bruising kickboxers against each other under MMA rules (unlike ONE Championship).
Alistair Overeem was originally set to take on Walt Harris in the night’s main event, but Harris was forced to pull out of the contest due to the search for his missing stepdaughter. Tragically, her body was found a month after her disappearance.
Rozenstruik stepped into Harris’ place, fresh off a 29-second knockout win over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski earlier in November.
That’s a bit of a recurring theme with Rozenstruik in his MMA career. Nine fights total, eight wins by knockout. In all three of his UFC fights so far, he has ended his opponent with a KO – the most impressive being his win over Allen Crowder, who only lasted nine seconds in the Octagon with the Surinamese striker.
Overeem finds himself in a purple patch of form, too. The Dutchman has won his last two fights by knockout against Sergei Pavlovich and tricky veteran Alexey Oleynik – an impressive feat considering the manner of his two defeats to Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes preceding those wins.
Elsewhere on the card, Marina Rodriguez takes on Cynthia Calvillo in the co-main event, while Stefan Struve and Ben Rothwell head up another brutal heavyweight bout third up in the main card.
To watch these fights, you’ll be able to catch them on ESPN in the USA, BT Sport in the U.K. and Ireland, and on UFC Fight Pass in many corners of the globe. Check local listings for your region’s broadcasters and timings.
Full fight card:
Heavyweight: Alistair Overeem vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Women’s Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez vs. Cynthia Calvillo
Heavyweight: Stefan Struve vs. Ben Rothwell
Women’s Bantamweight: Aspen Ladd vs. Yana Kunitskaya
Bantamweight: Cody Stamann vs. Song Yadong
Bantamweight: Rob Font vs. Ricky Simon
Welterweight: Thiago Alves vs. Tim Means
Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell vs. Matt Sayles
Lightweight: Joe Solecki vs. Matt Wiman
Middleweight: Makhmud Muradov vs. Trevor Smith
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
