What’s on this week in MMA? Jan 22-28

The dust has finally settled from three bumper cards from promotions ONE Championship, Bellator, and the UFC. Our reward? Three more fight cards from those industry leaders.

Read on to find out where and when these cards are taking place. And we’ll also throw in some viewing details so you can watch the action for yourself.

Friday January 26th: ONE Championship: Global Superheroes

Experts weigh in on a pivotal clash ahead of Friday’s blockbuster event! #Manila #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/hb8MqQui4P

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 25, 2018

The Philippines is a proven stronghold for ONE Championship and they are returning to Manila on Friday.

Taking place in the Mall of Asia Arena, ONE’s latest offering is headlined by an interim flyweight title fight pitting Filipino Geje Eustaquio against the impressive Kazakh Kairat Akhmetov.

This fight is a rematch. The pair fought each other back in September with Akhmetov walking away with the split decision win. Now, Eustaquio gets the chance to exact revenge on his foe and walk away with the interim belt in one motion.

However, Akhmetov will be equally determined to emerge victorious on Friday, having experienced the sole loss of his 24-1 professional MMA career to champion Adriano Moraes in May 2017 by unanimous decision.

A shot at Moraes and his championship awaits the winner.

There are 10 fights on this card in total. And it’s crammed with the usual interesting ONE Championship fare, pitting fast-rising East Asian MMA talents against competitors around the globe.

Full fight card

Main card (Global: iPPV via ONEPPV.com – 07:00am ET, 04:00am PT (USA) | 12:00pm GMT (UK))

Kairat Akhmetov vs. Geje Eustaquio

Joshua Pacio vs. Ming Qiang Lan

Eric Kelly vs. Rafael Nunes

Haobin Ma vs. Sotir Kichukov

Yago Bryan vs. Hayato Suzuki

Bruno Pucci vs. Emilio Urrutia

Preliminary card (Global: streamed via Facebook and Twitter – 05:50am ET, 02:50am PT (USA) | 10:50am GMT (UK))

Edward Kelly vs. Meas Meu

April Osenio vs. Jomary Torres

R. Singh Meena vs. Ze Hao Zhang

Adrian Matheis vs. Eddey Kalai

Friday January 26th: Bellator 193: Larkin vs. Gonzalez

It’s FIGHT WEEK! @da_MONSOON steps into the cage with @menifeemaniac Friday at @pechangacasino live and free on @paramountnet #Bellator193 pic.twitter.com/Ef1YOUQiWt

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) January 22, 2018

Bellator 192 provided some great action last weekend, with Rory MacDonald defeating Douglas Lima to win the Bellator welterweight championship and Chael Sonnen advancing through to the next round of the promotion’s Heavyweight Grand-Prix with a decision win over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Less than a week later, Bellator are back with another serving of fun fights in their circular cage.

Bellator 193: Larkin vs. Gonzalez sees former UFC welterweight Lorenz Larkin take on veteran Fernando Gonzalez in Temecula, California on Friday night.

This will be Larkin’s third attempt at getting a win as a Bellator fighter since switching promotions from the UFC following two straight losses to Lima and Paul Daley. Meanwhile, Gonzalez is riding a two-fight win streak, having defeated Brandon Gritz and Brennan Ward to cap off a successful 2017.

Elsewhere on the card, former The Ultimate Fighter contestants Kendall Grove and Justin Lawrence competing against AJ Matthews and Andrew Natividad respectively. Both Grove and Lawrence are strike-heavy in their attack and are facing game opponents in what should be two interesting bouts.

Full fight card

Main card (USA: Paramount Network – 21:00pm ET, 18:00pm PT)

Lorenz Larkin vs. Fernando Gonzalez

Saad Awad vs. JJ Ambrose

Kendall Grove vs. AJ Matthews

Steve Kozola vs. Jake Smith

Preliminary card (Global: Stream via the Bellator app)

Tyrell Fortune vs. Joe Hernandez

Tim Riscen vs. Mark Vorgeas

Everett Cummings vs. Ben Beebe

Julio Aguilera vs. Mike Andaya

Justin Lawrence vs. Andrew Natividad

Joshua Jones vs. DeMarcus Brown

Chris Herrera vs. Moses Murrietta

Saturday January 27th: UFC on FOX 27: Jacare vs. Brunson 2

Fight Week starts now!#UFCCharlotte Brunson vs. Jacare this Saturday!! pic.twitter.com/i64xye8sDD

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) January 24, 2018

It seems odd to have a UFC on FOX card fly so low under the radar. But, then again, this is a fight card taking place just a week removed from the two giant title fights which happened last weekend at UFC 220.

Perhaps that was an error in scheduling. However, any lack of attention on this upcoming card in the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, isn’t due to poor quality of fights.

As suggested in the event name, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Derek Brunson will square off for the second time. The pair previously fought five years ago, with Jacare awarded the win with a first-round TKO. Can Brunson avenge that loss from his Strikeforce days on Saturday night?

Elsewhere on the card, featherweights Dennis Bermudez and Andre Fili serve up a near-certain barnburner of a featherweight fight as co-main event. Highly-touted prospect Mirsad Bektic returns to the Octagon against Brazilian Godofredo Pepey on the undercard and a lightweight contest between Bobby Green and Erik Koch serves as the headline act of the preliminary card featured on Fox Sports.