Fights on Tap: Kara-France vs. Perez & 12 more UFC bouts
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.
Despite its changes, I thought UFC Vegas 65 was an OK offering. Kennedy Nzechukwu shined in his first headliner and finished Ion Cutelaba with some knees and punches. Jack Della Maddalena continued his streak of first-round KOs, adding Danny Roberts to his resume. And Muslim Salikhov and Natália Silva scored highlight-reel stoppages of Andre Fialho and Tereza Bleda. Bellator, ONE Championship, Invicta FC and Cage Warriors were also in action with some great events, so watch those if you missed them! 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 12 fights this week, and a pair of flyweights is headed to Australia next year.
In its return Down Under, the promotion is tapping its biggest stars from the Australia/New Zealand region to compete on UFC 284, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Feb. 11 at RAC Arena in Perth. So its latest addition of flyweights Kai-Kara France and Alex Perez made a lot of sense.
Kara-France started 2022 with a great performance against Askar Askarov at UFC Columbus in March. ‘Don’t Blink’ gave Askarov his first loss as a professional, toppling the previously undefeated fighter by unanimous decision. The City Kickboxing product then vied for the interim UFC flyweight championship against Brandon Moreno, but lost by way of third-round TKO. As for Perez, the Team Oyama has yet to return to the Octagon following his most recent loss to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 in July. Trying to rebuild momentum has been difficult for Perez, who has had seven fights canceled in the last year or so.
UFC 282 — December 10
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins — light heavyweight
First rep. by Saint Preux on his OnlyFans page
UFC Fight Night — December 17
Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger — welterweight
First rep. by Twitter user @Bendaman2001
David Dvorak vs. Manel Kape — flyweight
First rep. by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania
UFC Fight Night — January 14
Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov — middleweight
First rep. by Red Fury MMA on Instagram
Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson — featherweight
First rep. by Jackson on the Against the Fence podcast
UFC Seoul — February 4
Jun Yong Park vs. Denis Tiuliulin — middleweight
First rep. by Chris Presnell of MMA Ecosystem
UFC 284 — February 11
Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield — light heavyweight
Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross — flyweight
Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez — flyweight
First rep. by Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie
UFC Fight Night — February 25
Ode’ Osbourne vs. Denys Bondar — flyweight
First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency
Hailey Cowan vs. Ailín Pérez — women’s bantamweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie
UFC Fight Night — March 11
Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Silva — flyweight
First rep. by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 290 — February 4
Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko — heavyweight
First rep. by CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse and Shakiel Mahjouri
Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero — light heavyweight
First rep. by CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse and Shakiel Mahjouri
Announced RIZIN FF fights:
RIZIN 40 — December 31
Hideo Tokoro vs. John Dodson — flyweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 148 — December 31
Tobias Harila vs. Damon Wilson — featherweight
Dario Bellandi vs. Justin Barry — middleweight
Nathan Fletcher vs. Alessandro Giordano — bantamweight
Sam Creasy vs. Shaj Haque — flyweight
Announced KSW fights:
KSW 77 — December 17
Michał Domin vs. Patryk Likus — featherweight