Fights on Tap: Aldo vs. Dvalishvili among 16 UFC bouts announced 

Jose Aldo at UFC Vegas 44. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions. Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked …


Jose Aldo at UFC Vegas 44.
Jose Aldo at UFC Vegas 44. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

For the second straight week, we were treated to an electrifying UFC event. UFC Austin solidified itself as one of the best Fight Night events of the year after most of the contests ended in a finish. And the contests that went the distance were entertaining as hell. Now that it is over, we can look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.

The UFC either announced or finalized 16 fights this week, and a pair of bantamweight contenders agreed to meet this summer.

José Aldo and Merab Dvalishvili are expected to share the Octagon at UFC 278, the pay-per-view event scheduled for Aug. 20 at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. Both men enter the fight on impressive win streaks. The former UFC featherweight champion snapped a three-fight losing streak with wins against Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font in recent appearances. He sits at No. 3 in the official rankings. Dvalishvili has been on a tear lately, rattling off seven consecutive wins after going 0-2 at the beginning of his UFC tenure. The Georgian earned his first finish under the UFC banner in his last outing, a second-round technical knockout of Marlon Moraes at UFC 266 this past September.

UFC Long Island — July 16

Phil Rowe vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov — welterweight

UFC London — July 23

Jai Herbert vs. Kyle Nelson — lightweight

Nathaniel Wood vs. Charles Rosa — featherweight
First rep. by Al Zullino

UFC Fight Night — August 6

Takashi Sato vs. Bryan Battle — welterweight
First rep. by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting

Jason Witt vs. Josh Quinlan — welterweight
First rep. by Tudor Leonte of Sherdog

Shamil Gamzatov vs. Misha Cirkunov — light heavyweight
First rep. by MMA Fight Universe

UFC 278 — August 20

Tyson Pedro vs. Harry Hunsucker — light heavyweight
First rep. by Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie

Victor Altamirano vs. Daniel da Silva — flyweight
First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes

José Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili — bantamweight
First rep. by Ariel Helwani

UFC Paris — September 3

Jéssica Andrade vs. Manon Fiorot — women’s flyweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie

Nasrat Haqparast vs. John Makdessi — lightweight
First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland

UFC Fight Night — September 17

Andre Fili vs. Lando Vannata — featherweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie

Sijara Eubanks vs. Maryna Moroz — women’s flyweight*
* Eubanks vs. Moroz was already finalized, but shifted from UFC Vegas 58 to UFC on ESPN+ 69, per Alex Behunin of Cageside Press

Damon Jackson vs. Pat Sabatini — featherweight
First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency

Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong — bantamweight
First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland

UFC Fight Night — October 1

Randy Costa vs. Guido Cannetti — bantamweight
First rep. by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 283 — July 22

Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. Sidney Outlaw — lightweight

Douglas Lima vs. Jason Jackson — welterweight*
* Lima vs. Jackson was already finalized, but shifted from Bellator London to Bellator 283

Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Chris Gonzalez — lightweight

Adam Piccolotti vs. Tofiq Musayev — lightweight

Romero Cotton vs. Dalton Rosta — middleweight

Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Bobby King — lightweight

Bellator 284 — August 12

Neiman Gracie vs. Goiti Yamauchi — welterweight

Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry — heavyweight

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Bruna Ellen — women’s flyweight

Ilias Bulaid vs. Weber Almeida — featherweight

Jaylon Bates vs. Mark Coates — bantamweight

Said Sowma — Gokhan Saricam — heavyweight

DeAnna Bennett vs. Justine Kish — women’s flyweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 140 — June 25

Michele Martignoni vs. Scott Malone — catchweight (132 lbs.)

Cage Warriors 141 — July 22

Jeremy Petley vs. Steve Aimable — featherweight

Ander Sanchez vs. Lone’er Kavanagh — flyweight

Reece McEwan vs. Kingsley Crawford — bantamweight

Agy Sardari vs. Michal Figlak — lightweight

Sam Creasey vs. Dylan Hazan — flyweight

Announced Invicta FC fights:

Invicta FC 48 — July 20

Melissa Parker vs. Isis Verbeek — women’s strawweights

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 73 — August 20

Arkadiusz Wrzosek vs. Tomasz Sarara — heavyweight