Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
There was a lot of action on our screens this past weekend. Between UFC Vegas 63, Bellator 287 and Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva, I doubt anyone was scrambling to find something to watch. Was there anything that stuck out to you from these events? Leave it in the comments below! With those events now over, we can look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.
The UFC either announced or finalized three fights this week, and a battle of undefeated featherweights has been added to the final pay-per-view event of the year.
When Bryce Mitchell and Ilia Topuria lost out on their original opponents — Movsar Evloev and Edson Barboza — due to injury, the UFC decided to book them against each other. Mitchell vs. Topuria was confirmed for UFC 282, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Both fighters are undefeated in the UFC. ‘Thug Nasty’ improved to 15-0 with a unanimous decision over the aforementioned Barboza at UFC 272 this past March. And ‘El Matador’ continued his finishing streak with a brutal KO of Jai Herbert at UFC London two weeks later.
On the Bellator front, the promotion has teamed up with RIZIN FF again, bringing along some of its brightest stars for an event on New Year’s Eve. Headlining is reigning Bellator featherweight champion Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire, who meets RIZIN featherweight champion Kleber Koike.
UFC Fight Night — November 19
Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu — light heavyweight
First rep. by Mike Bohn and Nolan King of MMA Junkie
UFC 282 — December 10
Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria — featherweight
First rep. by David Van Auken of Fight Bananas
Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Jay Perrin — bantamweight
First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency
Announced RIZIN FF fights:
RIZIN 40 — December 31
Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. Kleber Koike — featherweight
AJ McKee Jr. vs. Roberto Satoshi Souza — lightweight
Juan Archuleta vs. Kim Soo Chul — bantamweight
Kyoji Horiguchi vs Hiromasa Ougikubo — flyweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 145 — November 5
Oban Elliott vs. Sean McCormac — middleweight
Cage Warriors 146 — November 12
Martin Causse vs. Adam Cullen — welterweight
Cage Warriors 147 — November 20
George Hardwick vs. Chris Bungard — lightweight
Adam Darby vs. Mush Aslani — welterweight
Paddy Wilkinson vs. Milton Afonso Cabral — welterweight
Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:
2022 PFL Championships — November 25
Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Gleison Tibau — welterweight
Announced KSW fights:
KSW 76 — November 12
Albert Odzimkowski vs. Henry Fadipe — middleweight
Marek Samociuk vs. Filip Bradaric — heavyweight
KSW 77 — December 17
Shamad Erzanukaev vs. Carl McNally — bantamweight
Patryk Kaczmarczyk vs. Pascal Hintzen — featherweight
Ibragim Chuzhigaev vs. Ivan Erslan — light heavyweight
Andrzej Grzebyk vs. Emil Weber Meek — welterweight
Daniel Rutkowski vs. Lom-Ali Eskijew — featherweight
