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.
We were kept busy with UFC Vegas 50 and Bellator 276 on Saturday night, but now our focus can shift to other events. The UFC either announced or finalized ten fights this week, with the upper echelon of the lightweight and middleweight divisions getting some shine in upcoming pay-per-views.
When Michael Chandler was signed to the UFC nearly two years ago, he was briefly connected to a fight against Tony Ferguson in what would have served as the co-main event of UFC 254 on Fight Island. Unfortunately, negotiations went south, and Chandler vs. Ferguson was off the table…until now. A year after almost coming to fruition, ‘Iron’ vs. ‘El Cucuy’ has been officially signed on for UFC 274 in May.
Despite always providing fans with a copious amount of entertainment, Chandler has gone 1-2 in his three UFC appearances, including a second-round technical knockout loss to current champion Charles Oliveira. The 35-year-old remains a key player in the division, sitting at No. 5 in the rankings. Ferguson finds himself in a similar situation, losing three consecutive fights to Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush.
On the middleweight front, Robert Whittaker already has his next assignment as he meets Marvin Vettori at UFC 275 in June. The ‘Reaper’ recently challenged Israel Adesanya for the championship but fell to ’The Last Stylerbender’ via unanimous decision at UFC 271. The ‘Italian Dream’ rebounded from his own championship loss to Adesanya with a decision over Paulo Costa (at light heavyweight) at UFC Vegas 41 this past October.
Bellator returns to Hawaii with a championship doubleheader. Sergio Pettis defends his bantamweight belt against Roufusport teammate and No. 3 ranked contender Raufeon Stots, while Cris Cyborg rematches Arlene Blencowe for the women’s featherweight crown.
UFC London — March 19
Gunnar Nelson vs. Takashi Sato — welterweight
UFC Fight Night — March 26
Denis Tiuliulin vs. Aliaskhab Khizriev — middleweight
UFC Fight Night — April 16
Alatengheili vs. Kevin Croom — bantamweight
UFC Fight Night — April 23
Damir Hadžovi? vs. Steve Garcia Jr. — lightweight
UFC Fight Night — April 30
Rob Font vs. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera — bantamweight
UFC 274 — May 7
Michael Chandler vs. Tony Ferguson — lightweight
Tracy Cortez vs. Melissa Gatto — women’s flyweight
UFC Fight Night — May 21
Jailton Almeida vs. Maxim Grishin — light heavyweight
UFC 275 — June 11
Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori — middleweight
Silvana Gómez Juárez vs. Liang Na — women’s strawweight
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 277 — April 15
Laird Anderson vs. JT Donaldson — featherweight
Bellator 279 — April 23
Sergio Pettis vs. Raufeon Stots — bantamweight
Cris Cyborg vs. Arlene Blencowe — women’s featherweight
Patchy Mix vs. Kyoji Horiguchi — bantamweight
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Justine Kish — women’s flyweight
Bellator London — May 13
Arunas Andriuskevicius vs. David Trallero — light heavyweight
Andrew Fisher vs. Attila Korkmaz — featherweight
Lee Chadwick vs. Maciej Ró?a?ski — light heavyweight
Chiara Penco vs. Lanchana Green — women’s strawweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 134 — March 18
James Hendin vs. Tobias Harila — featherweight
Cage Warriors 135 — April 1
James Sheehan vs. Karol Michalak — welterweight
Adam Shelley vs. Steven ‘Clocky T’ Hooper — lightweight
Justin Burlinson vs. Daniel Skibi?ski — welterweight
Dan Hepworth vs. Omiel Brown — welterweight
Giuseppe Ruggeri vs. Dean Trueman — featherweight
Milad Ahady vs. Antonio Sheldon — featherweight
Ryan Shelley vs. Magdi Gereev — featherweight
Cage Warriors 136 — April 2
Djati Melan vs. Christian Leroy Duncan — middleweight
Daan Duijs vs. Josh Reed — bantamweight
Edward Walls vs. Liam Gittins — bantamweight
Dylan Hazan vs. Raymison Bruno — flyweight
Luke Riley vs. Jack Eglin — bantamweight
Jan Quaeyhaegens vs. Kieran Lister — lightweight
Scott Malone vs. Tanio Pagliariccio — flyweight
Tom Mearns vs. Manny Akpan — featherweight
Reece McEwan vs. Sam Spencer — bantamweight
Ben Rees vs. Liam Molloy — featherweight
Announced KSW fights:
KSW 68 — March 19
Micha? Pietrzak vs. Tomasz Romanowski — middleweight
Marcin Trzci?ski vs. Adam Tomasik — light heavyweight
Piotr Kacprzak vs. José Marcos Santiago — featherweight
Gerardo Fanny vs. Aaron Aby — flyweight