Issue 188

February 2020

Stylebender walkouts, BMF gangster clashes and a one-eyed Bisping made a lasting impression in 2019, but there were many other highlights in a chaotic and enthralling year in mixed martial arts.

January

The UFC’s year started with a bang on January 16 as ESPN began their broadcast rights deal in Brooklyn with a champion vs. champion showdown with bantamweight titleholder TJ Dillashaw challenging flyweight king, Henry Cejudo for his title. Much was made of Dillashaw’s journey down to 125-pounds, but after he successfully made the weight on the Friday, all eyes turned to the fight and what was expected to be an evenly-matched contest between the two champions. What happened on the night though, few predicted as Cejudo rocked Dillashaw in the first few exchanges and then finished him with just 32 seconds on the clock to retain his belt. 

The victory was subsequently made to look even more impressive two months later when Dillashaw relinquished his 135-pounds title after testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO). In April he accepted a two-year suspension from USADA and subsequently won’t be seen back in the UFC Octagon until January 2021 at the earliest.

On the same night, Donald Cerrone began his 2019 campaign by defeating Alexander Hernandez, whilst controversial heavyweight Greg Hardy suffered the first defeat of his professional career when he was disqualified for an illegal knee against Allen Crowder.

The year began for Bellator on Jan. 26 at Bellator 214 when they crowned their first heavyweight champion since Vitaly Miankov vacated the title back in May 2016. After fighting their way through to the final of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix the year before, Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader faced the legend, Fedor Emelianenko, at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The highly anticipated bout lasted just 35 seconds as Bader overpowered the veteran to become Bellator’s first-ever simultaneous two-weight world champion.   

Outside of the US, ONE Championship crowned two new champions. At ONE: Eternal Glory, Japan’s Yosuke Saruta defeated Joshua Pacio to capture the ONE Strawweight title, whilst at ONE: Hero’s Ascent, Adriano Moraes defeated Geje Eustaquio for the ONE flyweight belt. 

Also this month

• Pro-wrestling crossover star Jake Hager made his Bellator debut when he defeated J.W. Kiser via submission at Bellator 214.
• The UFC scrapped UFC 233, originally scheduled for January 26 after failing to find a suitable main event. It was only the fourth time in the history of the company that an event had been cancelled.
• Paige VanZant fought and won her only fight of 2019 when she defeated Rachael Ostovich at UFC on ESPN 1. Surgeries related to an arm injury kept VanZant sidelined for the majority of the rest of the year.

February

After a slow start to the year, the UFC kicked into action in February with no fewer than four events taking place across four different continents.

Marlon Moraes put himself in the UFC bantamweight title picture with an impressive first-round submission victory over Raphael Assuncao at UFC Fortaleza, whilst Jose Aldo defeated fellow countryman Renato Moicano via TKO in the co-main event to notch up a two-fight win streak for the first time since 2014.

One week later it was on to UFC 234 where the expected main event between UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and challenger Kelvin Gastelum fell through just hours prior to the start of the show. Whittaker was pulled from the fight after being hospitalized for a hernia and collapsed bowel that required surgery later that day. As result, the co-main event between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva took the headline slot and “Stylebender” put on a show as he romped to a clear unanimous decision victory over arguably the greatest middleweight of all time.

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez returned to the Octagon for the first and apparently last time on Feb. 17 when he faced Francis Ngannou in Phoenix, Arizona. Velasquez barely got time to get into the fight and it took Ngannou just 26 seconds to find an uppercut and finish the Mexican on the ground with strikes. In October, Velaquez retired from MMA after making his debut in WWE and withdrawing from the USADA testing pool.

The UFC made their debut in the Czech Republic on Feb. 23 when the Octagon landed in Prague for the first time. The main event saw Thiago Santos notch his fourth win in a row when he finished Pole, Jan Blachowicz in the third round. The event also saw heavyweight veteran Stefan Struve announce his retirement after he submitted Marcos Rogerio de Lima, but it was a decision he ultimately retracted and he returned to Octagon later in the year in December.

Speaking of retirements, possibly the greatest fighter to ever grace the Octagon announced his retirement on Feb. 21 as Georges St-Pierre called time on his career. St-Pierre revealed the news at a press conference in Toronto and admitted he was interested in one final showdown with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Unfortunately for St-Pierre, the UFC wasn’t interested in making the fight and subsequently, with no other matchups of interest out there for him, the 37-year-old decided to hang up the 4-oz. gloves and bring an end to one of the finest careers in the sport. 

Bellator also had a busy February with their European Series kicking off in Newcastle where hometown man, Ryan Scope took Patricky Freire to the wire in a back-and-forth lightweight bout that the Brazilian ultimately won via a split decision. Later that month in Dublin, the second show of the European Series saw James Gallagher return from his first career defeat to finish Steven Graham inside one round in front of a rampant crowd in Dublin.

Stateside, Bellator 216 featured the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix quarter-final between British rivals Michael “Venom” Page and Paul Daley. Unfortunately, the highly anticipated bout fell short of expectations and after 25-minutes it was Page who got his hand raised via a unanimous decision. 

Also this month:

• Kron Gracie made his UFC debut and defeated veteran Alex Caceres in signature fashion with a rear-naked choke in the first round at UFC Phoenix.
• ONE Championship kicked off their ONE Lightweight Grand Prix with both Saygid Arslanaliev and Ariel Sexton advancing to the semi-finals at ONE: Call to Greatness in Singapore.
• Matt Mitrione and Sergei Kharitonov fought to a no-contest after a groin strike ended the contest after just 15 seconds of the first round.

March

One of the most significant cards of the year took place on March 2 when UFC 235 took place in Las Vegas. A UFC light heavyweight bout headlined the card with champion Jon Jones making it look easy with a dominant unanimous decision victory over challenger Anthony Smith. Things didn’t go quite as planned though for UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley who was soundly beaten by challenger Kamaru Usman as the “Nigerian Nightmare” became the first African-born UFC champion. 

March 16 saw the start of a very special year for Jorge Masvidal when he returned to the Octagon for the first time in 15 months at UFC London. “Gamebred” was knocked down in the opening exchanges but he picked himself back up off the mat to silence the English crowd and KO Darren Till in the second. Backstage, Masvidal then had a confrontation with Leon Edwards and served him up a “Three-piece and a soda” to send further shockwaves through the UFC’s 170-pound division.

Masvidal’s spectacular knockout of Till triggered a chain of ‘Knockout of the Year’ contenders with Anthony Pettis’ superman punch knockout of Stephen Thompson providing another highlight-reel moment just a week later. The final UFC event in March ended with Justin Gaethje laying out Edson Barboza with a single punch in the main event of UFC Philadelphia to cap an exhausting five fight cards in a month for the promotion.

A quiet month for Bellator saw two main events fall through. At Bellator 218 Emmanuel Sanchez defeated replacement Georgi Karakhanyan, whilst a week later at Bellator 219, Brandon Girtz defeated Saad Awad in the headliner after Lorenz Larkin pulled out from his bout with Andrey Koreshkov. 

ONE Championship marked their maiden show in Japan with no fewer than four ONE world titles fights at the historic Ryogoku Kokugikan venue in Tokyo on March 31. In the main event, Shinya Aoki recaptured the ONE lightweight title with a submission victory over Eduard Folayang, whilst further down the card Xiong Jingnan defended her ONE strawweight title after finishing Angela Lee in the fifth round of an epic contest. Double weight champion Aung La Nsang also fought for the first time in 2019 and won convincingly against his rival Ken Hasegawa who had pushed him to his limits just a year earlier.

Also this month:

• KSW 47 in Lodz, Poland saw former UFC heavyweight Phil de Fries successfully defend his KSW heavyweight title against the KSW light heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun.
• In one of the bizarrest moments of the year, UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker injured himself celebrating his spectacular TKO win over Misha Cirkunov. The flamboyant Brazilian dislocated his shoulder performing the “worm” dance move. 
• Ben Askren made his long-awaited UFC debut against Robbie Lawler and he won in controversial circumstances after referee Herb Dean ruled Lawler unconscious whilst Askren had a bulldog choke applied. Replays suggested he wasn’t. 

April

UFC 236 took place on April 13 and was one of the year’s most entertaining fight cards. The event was headlined by an interim UFC lightweight title fight that saw Dustin Poirier defeat featherweight title holder Max Holloway via a unanimous decision. 

The headlines were stolen by the co-main event though, as Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum clashed for the interim middleweight title in an enthralling contest. The fight went the full five rounds with momentum swinging one way and then the other. Adesanya eventually came out on top after getting the better of Gastelum in the final round and nearly finishing him in the final seconds. It’s a fight that will long live in the memory and will no doubt be a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender at the 2019 World MMA Awards. 

Elsewhere in the UFC during April, the promotion visited St. Petersburg for the first time and Alistair Overeem defeated Aleksei Oleinik via first-round TKO. The following week short notice replacement Jack Hermansson upset the odds by beating Jacare Souza via unanimous decision at UFC Florida on April 27.

On Bellator’s only fight card of the month, Rory MacDonald narrowly booked his place in the semi-finals of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix after battling to a majority draw with Jon Fitch at Bellator 220. MacDonald had a difficult time coping with Fitch’s relentless grappling, but after 25 exhausting minutes both men had their hand raised and it was the Canadian who retained his title and went through to the next round.

On the same night, Bellator Women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defeated Veta Arteaga via TKO (doctor stoppage) to keep her title after coming through some early adversity.

At ONE: Roots of Honor, Martin Nguyen defended his ONE featherweight title against Jadamba Narantungalag after landing a beautiful flying knee in the second round of their main event in the Philippines. Meanwhile, at the same event, Joshua Pacio got his revenge against Yosuke Saruta and regained his ONE strawweight title in the co-main event.

Also in the Far East, RIZIN FF crowned their first-ever light heavyweight champion when Czech fighter Jiri Prochazka finished Muhammed Lawal via TKO in round three of the RIZIN 15 main event. Earlier that evening, Kyoji Horiguchi took his record to 27-2 with a win over fellow UFC veteran Ben Nguyen.

Also this month:

• 21-year-old French fighter Salahdine Parnasse captured the interim KSW featherweight title beating Roman Szymanski via second-round TKO in the main event of KSW 48 on Apr. 27.
• Ruslan Magomedov received a lifetime ban from USADA after sustaining his second and third violations under the policy. The Russian fighter competed later in the year on the ACA 101 fight card which took place in Warsaw, Poland on Nov. 15.
• UFC welterweight title contender Darren Till hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons after he was arrested for stealing a taxi and trashing a hotel in the Canary Islands. The Liverpudlian later denied he was involved in the theft of the taxi but admitted he was on holiday on the island during the time of the incident.

May

The UFC Octagon headed to Ottawa, Canada on May 4 with Donald Cerrone and Al Iaquinta occupying the headline slot. Both men were looking to put themselves in the title mix at 155-pounds, but after 25-minutes it was “Cowboy” who walked out the winner on the scorecards. 

One week later UFC 237 took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the UFC strawweight title was on the line as Rose Namajunas faced Jessica Andrade in the main event. Namajunas started the fight and looked to have control of things in the early goings, but after 2 minutes 58 seconds of the second round Andrade slammed Namajunas down to the ground head first to knock the champion out cold. The Brazilian crowd celebrated wildly as Andrade picked up her first UFC title after over six years in the organization. 

Elsewhere on the card, it wasn’t a great night for the Brazilians. Jared Cannonier handed Anderson Silva his fourth loss in five fights, whilst Alexander Volkanovski set himself up for a UFC featherweight title shot in December after beating former champion, Jose Aldo.

The UFC rounded off the month in Rochester, New York with Rafael dos Anjos and Kevin Lee battling it out at the top of the card. Lee was testing the waters at welterweight for the first time in his career following a string of difficult weight cuts to 155-pounds, but on the night things didn’t go his way. Dos Anjos won the fight in the fourth round when he submitted a tiring Lee via an arm-triangle choke. 

Bellator’s European Series continued in Birmingham, England on May 4 with Brent Primus defeating Tim Wilde via submission. 

Business really picked up one week later though when at Bellator 221 featherweight champion Patricio Freire challenged Michael Chandler for the lightweight title. Having beaten his brother Patricky twice already in his career, Chandler was the favorite heading into the bout, but Patricio shocked the world and finished the American in 61 seconds to become just the second man in Bellator history to simultaneously hold two Bellator titles. 

In the co-main event of the Bellator 221 fight card, Douglas Lima handed Michael Page the first loss of his professional career when he knocked him out 35 seconds into the second round. Lima’s win meant he advanced into the final of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix later in the year.

History was made at ONE: Enter the Dragon when Christian Lee became the ONE lightweight champion aged just 20 after he defeated Japanese legend Shinya Aoki via TKO. Lee joined his sister Angela as a ONE titleholder and they became the first-ever MMA world champion brother and sister pair in history. 

May also saw the start of the new PFL season with two events held at the Nassau Coliseum in New York. At PFL 1, on May 6, Kayla Harrison and PFL debutant Sara Kauffman picked up wins in the women’s lightweight league. Two weeks later, Lance Palmer and Chris Wade started their respective lightweight and featherweight campaigns impressively with decision victories at PFL 2.

Also this month:

• Bellator’s Jake Hager went to 2-0 at Bellator 221 after beating beef plant worker and father of six T.J. Jones by second-round submission.
• Croatian sensation Roberto Soldic defended his KSW welterweight title against Krystian Kaszubowski via first-round knockout at KSW 49.
• Viral star, Michel Pereira made his UFC debut at UFC Rochester and he didn’t disappoint. The Brazilian ducked, dived, danced and jumped his way around the Octagon en route to an impressive first-round KO win over Danny Roberts. 

June

UFC Stockholm on June 1 brought about some huge changes for the UFC light heavyweight division. In the main event, Anthony Smith defeated hometown hero, Alexander Gustafsson via submission in the fourth round, whilst in the co-headliner, Aleksandar Rakic knocked out Jimi Manuwa after landing a beautiful headkick after just 41 seconds of the first round. Both Gustafsson and Manuwa subsequently retired in the weeks following the event bringing an end to a long period where both spent a long period in the Top 5. 

One week later at UFC 238, Henry Cejudo made headlines by becoming just the third man in UFC history to become a double-weight world champion. After weathering an early storm in the opening ten minutes, Cejudo overpowered Marlon Moraes in the third round of their UFC bantamweight title clash and finished the fight via TKO. Cejudo unfortunately spent the rest of the year on the sidelines, but that didn’t stop him giving himself the “Triple C” nickname and telling the UFC flyweights and bantamweights to “bend the knee” at any given opportunity.

Valentina Shevchenko also defended her title at UFC 238 after knocking out Jessica Eye with a picture-perfect headkick in the second round. Tony Ferguson fought for the only time in 2019 beating Donald Cerrone via doctor stoppage in the second round. 

UFC Minneapolis on June 29 then rounded off the month for the UFC as Francis Ngannou recorded his third straight win, taking out Junior dos Santos after just 71 seconds of their heavyweight main event.

Bellator held two massive shows in June with the first, Bellator 222, taking place at Madison Square Garden on June 14. Rory MacDonald defeated Neiman Gracie to advance to the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix final, but the headlines were stolen by Chael Sonnen who retired after being beaten by Lyoto Machida in the co-main event. At 42-years-old, Sonnen retired with a record of 37-17-1 and as a three-time UFC title challenger.

One week later, Bellator returned to the English capital for Bellator 223 on June 22. There was a big upset in the main event as Rafael Lovato Jr. overcame Gegard Mousasi to win the Bellator middleweight title via a majority decision. The likes of Paul Daley, James Gallagher, Aaron Chalmers and Melvin Manhoef also picked up wins on the night. 

Also this month:

• Chan Sung Jung defeated Renato Moicano at UFC Greenville recording his first win inside the Octagon since Feb. 2017.
• RIZIN bantamweight champion Kyoji Horiguchi added the Bellator bantamweight strap to his collection when he beat Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 222.
• The Cage Warriors 106 main event between Nicolas Dalby and Ross Houston ended in unusual circumstances when referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight and ruled it a no-contest due to the amount of blood on the canvas making it too slippery to continue.
• At PFL 3 the light heavyweight and heavyweight seasons got underway with Emiliano Sordi upsetting 2018 finalist Vinny Magalhaes in the 205-pounds main event. There were also wins for Satoshi Ishi and Denis Goltsov on their PFL debuts in the heavyweight league.

July

The World MMA Awards 2019 took place on July 4, hosted by action hero and actor Dolph Lundgren. The big winners on the night included Daniel Cormier, who took home both the ‘Male Fighter of the Year’ and ‘Analyst of the Year’ awards, and Amanda Nunes who won ‘Female Fighter of the Year,’ ‘Knockout of the Year,’ and “Upset of the Year’. Israel Adesanya was voted ‘Breakout Fighter of the Year,’ whilst ONE Championship’s Aung La Nsang won ‘International Fighter of the Year.’

Later that week, Nunes went on to defend her UFC women’s bantamweight title against Holly Holm at UFC 239, whilst Jon Jones also successfully retained his title against Thiago Santos in a closely fought light heavyweight main event.

Despite the two title fights, the card will perhaps be better remembered for Jorge Masvidal’s moment of magic against his bitter rival Ben Askren. The two welterweight contenders spent the entirety of fight week going back and forth in the media, but on fight night it took just five seconds for Masvidal to land a flying knee and send Askren unconscious face-first to the mat. The knockout will forever be remembered as one of the moments of the year and currently holds the record for the fastest knockout in UFC history.

On the UFC 239 undercard, Arnold Allen defeated former Strikeforce champion, Gilbert Melendez, Michael Chiesa beat Diego Sanchez, and Jan Blachowicz brutally knocked out Luke Rockhold on his debut at 205-pounds.

 At UFC Sacramento the following week, Urijah Faber put Ricky Simon to the sword in his first fight back out of retirement. In the main event, Germaine de Randamie finished Aspen Ladd in just 16 seconds to earn a title shot later in the year.

The second UFC pay-per-view of the month took place on July 27 when the Rogers Place arena in Edmonton, Alberta hosted UFC 240. A UFC featherweight title fight between champion Max Holloway and challenger Frankie Edgar took centre stage and on the night “Blessed” got the best of his rival wining via a dominant unanimous decision. Also, Cris Cyborg competed for the last time under the UFC banner defeating newcomer Felicia Spencer.

Bellator 224 took place on July 12 and the evening ended with Bellator women’s featherweight champion Julia Budd defeating the previously undefeated Israeli fighter, Olga Rubin via TKO in the first round. On the same night, Leslie Smith made her Bellator debut, defeating SBG Ireland’s Sinead Kavanagh on the undercard.

Kayla Harrison kept her 100-percent record and booked her place in the playoffs at PFL 4 with a submission win over Morgan Frier. One week later, Chris Wade and Lance Palmer also made it 2-0 for the season with Wade beating Akhmed Aliev and Palmer defeating Luis Rafael Laurentino.

Also this month:

• Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans, and the Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez fight from June 2009 were inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame during International Fight Week.
• UFC welterweight Leon Edwards extended his winning streak to eight after beating Rafael dos Anjos in a five-round main event at UFC Texas.
• ONE Championship’s Angela Lee suffered a second consecutive loss when she was beaten by Michelle Nicolini via unanimous decision at ONE: Masters of Destiny.

August

UFC welterweight Colby Covington continued to upset both the odds and the people as he racked up his seventh straight win in a row on August 3. The American Top Team man beat Robbie Lawler all ends up across five rounds and took home a landslide 50–44, 50–45, 50–45 unanimous decision victory. The win set him up for a showdown with Kamaru Usman later in the year.

One week later on August 10, Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her UFC women’s flyweight title against Liz Carmouche in a somewhat underwhelming five-round affair at the UFC’s first event in Uruguay. The most memorable moment of the night belonged to Mike Perry whose nose was pointing in three different directions come the end of his fight with Vicente Luque in the co-main event.

UFC 241 was held on August 17 and it was a night to remember in Anaheim as Stipe Miocic exacted revenge on Daniel Cormier to reclaim his UFC heavyweight title. Miocic’s victory capped the evening, but the majority of the headlines in the morning focused on just one man: Nate Diaz. The Stockton native returned to the Octagon for the first time in nearly three years and beat Anthony Pettis via a clear unanimous decision. The real talking point after the fight though was his callout of Jorge Masvidal who he challenged with the now-infamous line: “I know my man’s a gangster, but he ain’t no West Coast gangster.”

A busy August for the UFC ended in Shenzhen, China where Zhang Weili shocked the world and became China’s first-ever UFC champion. Zhang took just 42 seconds to finish Jessica Andrade and extend her winning run to 20 fights in front an adoring crowd at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre Arena.

At ONE: Dawn of Heroes Eddie Alvarez picked up his first win under the ONE Championship banner when he pulled off an amazing comeback against Eduard Folayang to advance to the final of the ONE Lightweight Gran Prix. Earlier that evening, Demetrious Johnson also advanced through to the final of the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix with a decision win over Tatsumitsu Wada.

In one of the biggest upsets of the year, Kai Asakura finished Kyoji Horiguchi at RIZIN 18 on August 18 to snap his 13-fight win streak. The two were set to meet again on December 31 but Horiguchi pulled out of the bout citing a knee injury.

Also this month:

• Matt Mitrione and Sergei Kharitonov met in a rematch at Bellator 223 and the Russian won via TKO to take his record to 29-6.
• Former UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg was released from her UFC contract.
• Paulo Costa put an end to his feud with Yoel Romero at UFC 241 when he narrowly won a unanimous decision and put himself in the title picture in the UFC middleweight division.
• Jim Miller submitted Clay Guida at UFC Newark to move to level pegging with Donald Cerrone for most wins in the UFC lightweight division (12) and most fights in the UFC (33).
• The playoff spots for the PFL heavyweight and light heavyweight seasons were decided at PFL 6 with the likes of Jared Rosholt, Magalhaes, Viktor Nemkov, and Denis Goltsov all picking up wins to make it through to the quarter-finals in October.

September

The UFC visited Abu Dhabi for just the third time in their history on September 7 with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defending his title for the first time in 2019 at UFC 242.

Nurmagomedov soundly beat the interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier, after dominating the American Top Team man for two rounds and then submitting him in the third. The event drew an incredible amount of attention, especially in Russia where it drew 26 million viewers (almost a quarter of Russia’s adult population) on free TV station Channel One Russia. In the co-main event, Paul Felder edged a split-decision victory over Edson Barboza to get belated retribution for his loss to the Brazilian in 2015.

The UFC was back in North America on September 14 as a highly anticipated lightweight main event between Justin Gaethje and Donald Cerrone took centre stage at UFC Vancouver. Cerrone was looking to notch up his third win of the year, but on the night Gaethje was just too hot to handle and his accurate striking and power overwhelmed “Cowboy” to finish the fight inside one round.

Denmark then welcomed the UFC for the first time on September 28 as the Octagon landed in the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. Jared Cannonier spoilt the party by defeating Jack Hermansson via TKO. There was better news for the likes of debutant Mark Madsen and the returning Nicolas Dalby.

Over in Bellator, the Featherweight Grand Prix kicked off on September 7 at Bellator 226 with Derek Campos, Adam Borics, Pedro Carvalho, and Emmanuel Sanchez all booking their place in the quarter-finals. Three weeks later at Bellator 228, A.J. McKee, Patricio Freire, Darrion Caldwell and Daniel Weichel also picked up wins to advance through to the next round.

Bellator then returned to Dublin on September 27 and once again James Gallagher did the business in front of his home fans. The Irishman submitted UFC veteran and last-minute replacement Roman Salazar in just 35 seconds to cap another fantastic night in Ireland. Michael Page, Kiefer Crosbie, Leah McCourt and Benson Henderson also picked up wins on the night, whilst Peter Queally pulled off one of the comebacks of the year when he fought back from the brink of defeat to beat Ryan Scope.

KSW marked their 50th show with an event in London, England on September 14. Phil de Fries successfully defended his heavyweight crown in a forgettable affair against Brazilian Luis Henrique, whilst Norman Parke captured the interim KSW lightweight title with a decision win over Marcin Wrzosek.

Also this month:

• UFC Mexico City ended in controversy when the main event fight between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens was ruled a no-contest after just 15 seconds following an eye poke.
• Bellator 226 also ended in a similar fashion when the heavyweight title fight between Ryan Bader and Cheick Kongo also ended in a no-contest after Kongo alleged he was eye poked by Bader. 
• Just days after being released from the UFC, Cris Cyborg inked what was apparently “the largest contract in women’s MMA” with Bellator.
• Gegard Mousasi got back to winning ways at Bellator 228 with a win over fellow UFC veteran Lyoto Machida.
• Cage Warriors hosted their second ever ‘Unplugged’ event at BT Sports studios on September 7 with Brit Jack Cartwright winning a one-night bantamweight grand prix tournament.

October

UFC 243 broke boundaries. From Israel Adesanya’s incredible and daring dance routine walkout, to the record 57,127 people who packed into the Marvel Stadium to break the UFC attendance record, Octoer 6 was a night to remember. Adesanya ended the night the unified UFC middleweight champion after putting Robert Whittaker to the sword with a vintage display of beautiful counter striking to finish the fight in the second round. The victory was “Stylebender’s” eighteenth straight career win and without doubt, his most significant.

At UFC Tampa the following week, former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk got back to winning ways beating Michelle Waterson via a unanimous decision to set up a title fight with Zhang Weili in 2020. Cub Swanson also broke a losing streak with a win over Kron Gracie who was fighting in the UFC for just the second time.

UFC Boston on October 18 then played host to a light heavyweight main event with Dominick Reyes finishing Chris Weidman inside one round to put himself at the front of the queue to face Jon Jones next year. Less than a month after their no contest, Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens fought again and this time the Mexican managed to pick up the victory via unanimous decision.

A busy month for the UFC ended in Singapore with Ben Askren taking on Demian Maia in what eventually ended up being the American’s final fight before retirement. Both men gave good accounts of themselves in an even contest, but with nearly four minutes on the clock in the third round, Maia took Askren’s back and rendered him unconscious with a rear-naked choke. Askren subsequently retired a month later citing a long-standing hip injury.

A similarly busy month for Bellator culminated at Bellator 232 on October 26 with Douglas Lima taking home the Bellator welterweight title and a $1 million cheque following his win over Rory MacDonald in the final of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix. Lima got his revenge for his loss to MacDonald in 2018 winning convincingly 49-46, 50-45, 50-45 on the scorecards.

Over in Tokyo, Japan, ONE Championship celebrated their 100th event with a double header fight card, ONE: Century, taking place on October 13. The highlights included successful title defenses for Bibiano Fernandes, Angela Lee and Aung La Nsang, whilst Demetrious Johnson won the final of the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix. ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee came in as a last-minute replacement for Eddie Alvarez to beat Saygid Arslanaliev to win the ONE Lightweight Grand Prix.

Outside of the cage, in one of the craziest moments of the year, Michael Bisping appeared to remove a prosthetic eye from his eye socket live on his podcast. Bisping famously suffered a severe detached retina during a fight with Vitor Belfort in 2013 and continued for a further five years at the highest level despite the longstanding implications of the injury. Bisping has since suggested he fought in the UFC with a fake eye. Surely not?

PFL held three events with the quarter-finals and semi-finals of all six weight divisions decided across three nights in Las Vegas. The headlines from PFL 7 saw UFC veteran David Michaud and Ray Cooper III advance to the welterweight finals, whilst Kayla Harrison also went forward to the women’s lightweight final to face Larissa Pacheco. One week later at PFL 8, Lance Palmer and Daniel Pineda booked their places in the featherweight finals after Nathan Schulte and Loik Radzhabov both won through to the lightweight final. PFL 9 culminated with Ali Isayev vs. Jared Rosholt and Emiliano Sordi vs. Jordan Johnson also set for finals night on December 31.

Also this month:

• Frank Mir defeated Roy Nelson to record his first win in four and a half years at Bellator 231.
• The RIZIN Lightweight Grand Prix began with Johnny Case, Patricky Freire, Luiz Gustavo, and Tofiq Musaev all advancing to the semi-finals.
• Conor McGregor revealed in an exclusive interview with ESPN that he was targeting a January 18, 2020 return to the Octagon.

November

The long-anticipated BMF title fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz headlined UFC 241 on November 2, but not without a minor blip in the road beforehand. One week prior to the fight Diaz announced on social media that he’d been notified of an adverse finding in a recent out-of-competition USADA test. After a tense few days, Diaz was cleared to compete after tests showed he’d been taking a tainted batch of organic, vegan multivitamins.

After all the intense build-up, Madison Square Garden played host to the Masvidal vs. Diaz showdown and there was no shortage of drama. Neither man took a step back during an intense three rounds, but it was Masvidal who got the better of the exchanges, cutting Diaz multiple times around the eyes and eventually forcing the fight to be stopped by the doctor between rounds. Such was the fanfare of the event “The Rock” wrapped the BMF title around the waist of Masvidal as “Gamebred” celebrated his third significant win in 2019.

In the co-main event Darren Till made a huge statement in his middleweight debut beating former title challenger Kelvin Gastelum via a unanimous decision. Stephen Thompson, Derrick Lewis and Kevin Lee also picked up wins.

 Later in the month, Zabit Magomedsharipov edged out Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC Moscow, before a week later Jan Blachowicz took a split-decision win against Jacare Souza in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 16.

November was also a busy month for Bellator who held three events. On November 8 Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal announced his retirement from MMA following his fourth straight loss. Lawal finished his career with a 21-10 (1NC) record, having won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title as well as the RIZIN Heavyweight Grand Prix.

At Bellator 234 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Linton Vassell snapped a three-fight losing streak beating Sergei Kharitonov, before Michael Page added another highlight-reel knockout to his collection with a stunning one-punch KO of Gianni Melillo at Bellator London 2 on November 23.

Also this month:

• UFC President Dana White confirmed to ESPN that Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone was greenlit for January 18, 2020.
• KSW debuted in Zagreb, Croatia with KSW 51 featuring a main event that saw Mariusz Pudzianowski finishing bodybuilding sensation Erko Jun in the second round.
• Joshua Pacio successfully defended his ONE Strawweight title against Rene Catalan at ONE: Masters of Fate.

December

The UFC stacked the card for the final pay-per-view event of the year with three titles on the line at UFC 245.

The grudge match between Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman topped the bill with the UFC welterweight title on the line. After all the pre-fight talk, the two decorated wrestlers went toe-to-toe in a thrilling fight that was close to going the full five rounds. Covington started well, but Usman came on strong later on in the fight, breaking his rival’s jaw in the third before then finishing him with 50 seconds left in the final round. Covington later blasted referee Marc Goddard for stopping the fight prematurely, but replays suggested that after being dropped twice he was no longer in a position to defend himself intelligently.

Elsewhere on the card, Alexander Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway to claim the UFC featherweight title and extend his winning streak to 18 fights. Amanda Nunes also successfully defended her UFC women’s bantamweight title beating Germaine de Randamie via unanimous decision.

At the UFC’s final show of 2019, Frankie “The Answer” Edgar stepped up on short notice to take on Chan Sung Jung at UFC Busan. Brian Ortega was originally expected to take on “The Korean Zombie” but he unfortunately pulled out of the fight just weeks before following a knee injury.

KSW finished up their year with KSW 52 taking place in Gliwice, Poland as the legend Mamed Khalidov returned from a brief retirement. Unfortunately for Khalidov, despite his best efforts KSW middleweight champion Scott Askham proved to be too much and the Brit ended the night with his arm raised winning via a unanimous decision.

 Bellator closed out the year with a double-header fight card in Hawaii on Dec. 20-21. In the main event of Bellator 236, Ilima-Lei MacFarlane looked to extender her winning streak to 12 when she took on Brit Kate Jackson.

Bellator and RIZIN then combined on Dec. 29 to co-promote a show headlined by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson taking on Fedor Emelianenko. The likes of Michael Chandler, Michael Page and Lorenz Larkin also featured on the undercard.

RIZIN then brought the curtain down on 2019 with RIZIN 20 on New Year’s Eve. The card featured the semi-finals of the RIZIN Lightweight Grand Prix and three title fights with the RIZIN bantamweight, light heavyweight and super atomweight belts up for grabs at the Saitama Super Arena.

Also this month:

• The UFC announced that UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will defend his title against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 on April 18, 2020. Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk was also made official for UFC 248.
• Jairzinho Rozenstruik picked up his fourth win in 2019 when he finished Alistair Overeem in the final round of their main event clash at UFC Washington.
• ARES Fighting Championship held their first show in Dakar, Senegal on December 14 and Senegalese wrestling sensation Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane stole the headlines with an impressive heavyweight debut win over Sofiane Boukichou.
• The champions of the second PFL season were crowned on December 31 with the finals taking place at Madison Square Garden.