There are a whole lot of big MMA events this weekend the UFC, Bellator and the next rung down with the Legacy Fighting Alliance, Cage Fury Fighting Championships and more. With that comes some interesting female bouts. I am going to touch on three of them here. We’ll start with Bellator and the bout between Veta Arteaga and Desiree Yanez on Thursday. Then, on Friday, the LFA gives us a title bout between champion Vanessa Demopoulos and Lupita Godinez. We end on Saturday with UFC’s Cortney Casey against Priscilla Cachoeira. So let’s get started.
Veta Arteaga vs. Desiree Yanez (Bellator 250)
Third-ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik meets seventh-ranked Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC Vegas 20 on Saturday in a battle of elite heavyweights.
Rozenstruik (11-1) is coming off an impressive performance in his last outing, finishing former champion Junior dos Santos in the second round at UFC 252. Gane (7-0) defeated Andrei Arlovski in his last bout, finishing the former champion in the second round by TKO.
Rozenstruik will be looking to maintain his ranking in the contender-tier of the heavyweight division, while Gane will be looking to shine in the biggest fight of his career.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje have combined for 11 post-fight bonuses over their last nine fights. That’s not a typo. They have more bonuses than fights over that span. Now, at UFC on ESPN+ 16, these two entertaining lightweights will attempt to live up to the hype. This showdown is as important to the top of the division as any non-title fight in recent history. Its importance can only be topped by its potential for unforgettable action.
After suffering his first two professional losses in back-to-back outings against Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje has bounced back with a pair of first-round knockouts over James Vick and Edson Barboza. Cerrone was on a three-fight winning streak and looking better than ever after returning to the 155-pound weight class until dropping a “Fight of the Night” affair to Tony Ferguson at UFC 238. Cerrone will try to replicate the success he had the last time he fought in Canada when he soundly
On Saturday,
UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Lewis presents us with two female bouts that are worth the anticipation. Ketlen Vieira faces off with Yana Kunitskaya, while Shana Dobson faces off with Casey O’Neill.
In addition, I want to take a short look at the clash between Irina Degtyareva and Zaira Dyshekova that takes place at Open Fighting Championship 2. I know these names might be new, but that is part of why I wanted to at least briefly go over it. My goal is to try to talk about three fights per preview, and I’d like to highlight some lesser-known fighters when I can, so that they can become more widely known.
Can Belal Muhammad Upset Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night 187?
With the recent news that Belal Muhammad has stepped in and taken the place of Khamzat Chimaev to fight Leon Edwards on March 13, it’s important to remember the long road Edwards has taken to get here.
Edwards last fought in July 2019 when he secured a unanimous-decision victory over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. He landed a takedown early in the first round and was able to maintain top control throughout most of the frame. He also briefly took dos Anjos’ back, though he was unable to progress any further before his opponent was able to get back to his feet.