Fighters Only : UFC 222: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya Results

Fighters Only

May 30, 2022

Another week, another weekend of MMA action to feast your eyes upon and leading promotions Bellator, KSW and UFC look to begin March in style.

To do Fighters Only readers a solid, we’ve picked the highlights of all MMA events coming up this weekend.

Read on to find out where and when these cards are taking place. And we’ll also throw in some viewing details so you can watch the action for yourself.

Friday March 2nd: Bellator 195: Caldwell vs. Higo

Bellator bantamweight champions don’t tend to last long.

On Friday, when the promotion heads to Thackerville, Oklahoma, Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell will attempt to become only the second man to successfully defend his championship in that weight class.

His opponent is Brazilian Leandro Higo, who has already had a crack at the Bellator belt before. Last April, Higo lost a tight split decision against compatriot Eduardo Dantas – the man Caldwell defeated to be in the position he is today.

The action at 135lbs does not stop there and those fights all seem intertwined with each other.

The aforementioned Dantas won his belt against Bellator stalwart Joe Warren. Warren is featured in the co-main event against Guam’s Joe Taimanglo, who lost to both current champion Caldwell and challenger Higo in his last two outings in the cage.

Taimanglo’s long been on the cusp of a title shot and after seeing his last two opponents achieve that off the back of his defeats, victory over Warren could see the veteran finally get the championship bout he’s been clamouring for.

Full fight card

Main card (Paramount Network – 21:00pm ET, 18:00pm PT (USA))

Darrion Caldwell vs. Leandro Higo

Joe Warren vs. Joe Taimanglo

Emily Ducote vs. Kristina Williams

Juan Archuleta vs. William Joplin

Preliminary Card (Bellator.com/Live – 19:00pm ET, 16:30pm PT (USA))

Romero Cotton vs. Justin Reeser

Ky Bennett vs. Morgan Solis

Teagan Dooley vs. Kevin Holland

Thomas Lopez vs. Aaron Webb

Treston Thomison vs. Jessie Vasquez

Fernando Gonzalez Trevino vs. Armando Servin

Cris Williams vs. Daniel Carey

Andrew Parker vs. William Florentino

Justin Patterson vs. Brian Grinnell

Saturday March 3rd: KSW 42: Narkun vs. Khalidov

Leading Polish promotion KSW makes its fifth return to the city ?ód? and in some style.

The night’s main event is between KSW light heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun and the promotion’s middleweight title holder Mamed Khalidov, who also happens to be a legend in the Polish MMA scene.

There are also two title fights on offer. An all-Polish lightweight title fight between Mateusz Gamrot and Grzegorz Szulakowski is sure to get the local fans going, while Brazilian Ariane Lipski defends her flyweight belt against Argentine Silvana Gomez Juarez.

Then there’s the co-main event. Former UFC middleweight Scott Askham makes his promotional debut against popular Pole and ex-KSW champion Michal Materla.

This fight card is among the best to ever come out of the European MMA scene and is simply must-watch.

Full fight card

Main card (iPPV on Fite.tv – 13:00pm ET, 10:00am PT (USA) | 18:00pm GMT (UK))

Tomasz Narkun vs. Mamed Khalidov

Micha? Materla vs. Scott Askham

?ukasz Jurkowski vs. Martin Zawada

Mateusz Gamrot vs. Grzegorz Szulakowski

Ariane Lipski vs. Silvana Gómez Juárez

Marcin Wójcik vs. Chris Fields

Karolina Owczarz vs. Paulina Raszewska

Filip Wola?ski vs. Bart?omiej Kopera

Krystian Kaszubowski vs. Christopher Henze

Saturday March 3rd: UFC 222: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya

Saturday sees the UFC return to Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena for UFC 222.

The pay-per-view is headlined by a women’s featherweight championship fight between Cris “Cyborg” and former Invicta FC title challenger Yana Kunitskaya.

A male featherweight title fight with champion Max Holloway and number one contender Frankie Edgar was originally scheduled for the event. However, Holloway pulled out of the fight at the beginning of February due to injury.

Instead, Edgar will now be competing against the surging Brian “T-City” Ortega in what is arguably an even more intriguing stylistic match up. The victor will surely be the next man to face Hawaiian Holloway upon his return to the Octagon.

There are also a number of well-known names featuring throughout the fight card.

A heavyweight contest pitting towering Dutchman Stefan Struve and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski is sure to draw a highlight-reel finish. Cat Zingano makes her first appearance in the cage in over a year against Ketlen Vieira.

Elsewhere, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Mackenzie Dern will make her UFC debut against Ashley Yoder. While the likes of Sean O’Malley, Beneil Dariush, John Dodson, Hector Lombard, C.B. Dollaway, and Bryan Caraway also feature.

The headline act was hastily created in the wake of Holloway’s injury, but the fight card as a whole is strong.