Fight announcements have been rather sparse over the past couple days, and War Machine’s sordid actions aren’t something that should be exploited for clicks, so it’s been relatively slow for legitimate MMA news this weekend. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at some of the weekend’s MMA results. Things kicked off on Friday night with AXS TV’s newest promotion, CES MMA. Their debut card on the channel saw TUF veteran Julian Lane (8-3-1) capture the organization’s lightweight title with a third-round guillotine choke over Luis Felix (11-8). The victory was Lane’s third in a row. While he probably isn’t on the UFC’s radar quite yet, building his name with a few more wins on AXS TV could get him there. Gil de Freitas (17-5) and Charles Rosa (9-0) also picked up impressive stoppage wins on the card, as all three betting favorites came through. Later on Friday, National Fight Alliance held a card in California which featured numerous UFC and WEC veterans. In the main event, Jared Papazian (18-11, 1 NC) picked up his first win in nearly a year, defeating Ara Muradyan (5-2) of Team Hayastan by unanimous decision. Chad George (15-8) put an end to his two-fight losing streak, while Karen Darabedyan (10-5) fought for the first time in over two years, and ended a four-fight losing streak of his own. Fight Master alumni Nick Barnes (8-0) and Mike Jasper (7-2) faced one another, with Barnes earning the decision. Saturday’s biggest event was WSOF 12, and detailed recap and results of that card can be found here. On the East coast, CFFC — which has become a pipeline to the UFC for fighters near the Atlantic — put on their latest card with three titles on the line. At 155, Paul Felder (8-0) kept his undefeated record in very impressive fashion, scoring a KO with a spinning back heel kick in the night’s main event. Welterweight Jonavin Webb (7-0) also impressed, stopping UFC veteran Dan Stittgen (7-5) with strikes in the third round to capture the 170lb belt. The first title bout of the evening didn’t go so well for the undefeated prospect, as Levan Makashvili (4-1) dropped a decision to Bellator veteran Alexandre Bezerra (17-3), who still fits into prospect status himself at just 26. Any or all of these CFFC title holders could find their way to the UFC soon and they would be right at home. Saturday also saw a number of events take place in Brazil with the usual level of mid-tier regional fighters and uncompetitive matchmaking. One note to take from those card however was Luis Rafael Laurentino moving to 26-0 with a first round KO. The 21-year-old has generally faced atrocious competition, but given his record alone he’s a fighter that will likely end up stateside in short order. On the other side of the world, DEEP was promoting one of their all-female ‘Jewels’ cards. With women’s MMA just gaining traction in North America in the past half decade, it’s often forgotten that women have had a place in Japan for much longer. This event featured a pair of women who have already come to North America in the past, as 19-year-old Mizuki Inoue (8-2) avenged her DQ loss which wasn’t actually a loss (Inoue won the actual fight, but was disqualified for missing weight) to Emi Tomimatsu (7-8). Ayaka Hamasaki (10-1) also got back in the win column after a year out following her loss to Claudia Gadelha. Hamasaki bested veteran Naho Sugiyama (10-4) by TKO. Some other notable results from the weekend include:
- Matt Fiordirosa (13-1) returning after a nearly four-year absence from the sport to pick up a win. Fiordirosa was once considered a very high-level prospect, and was one of the fighters featured on the Tapout TV show. At 29, he may still have time to make a run if he so desires.
- The struggles of Dan Hornbuckle (24-9) continued, as the Bellator and Sengoku vet dropped his fourth straight bout, this one to Roger Carroll (13-11).
- Nearly 20 years into his MMA career, Yuki Kondo (58-28-9) is still picking up wins. The 39-year-old (who seems like he should be older than that) moved his 2014 record to 3-0 with a TKO in the first minute at Pancrase 260.
- Ronda Rousey’s training partner Marina Shafir (1-1) saw the Rousey-like start to her career (six submission wins in just 8:35) come to a screeching halt, as she was knocked out in 37 seconds by Amanda Bell (2-2).
With a UFC event back in the docket this week, let’s hope the MMA news starts picking back up.