Despite there being a solid UFC event in front of a crowd this weekend, all of the major regional promotions on UFC Fight Pass have an event on this weekend. With Contender Series coming up, I have little doubt the UFC matchmakers will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming LFA, Fury FC, Cage Warriors and Eternal MMA cards.
LFA 185: Gennrich vs. Lewis
There is an argument to be made about which of the many upcoming shows is the “best”, but I am personally most excited for LFA 185. The card features prospects from the prelims all the way up to the main event. The card can be viewed on UFC Fight Pass and will start on Friday 7th June at 09:00 PM ET.
KEGAN GENNRICH (8-2) vs. RICHIE LEWIS (5-0) – Lightweight Championship
In the main event Kegan Gennrich will defend his LFA title which he won over Contender Series 2023 alum JaCobi Jones. Gennrich stands tall for the 155 lb division at 6'2″, with an awkward striking style. He is definitely a grappler and will be looking to get the fight to the ground. That may not be a problem as his opponent Richie Lewis is a very aggressive wrestler. As soon as the fight starts Richie is looking to get the takedown using his background as an U23 world champion freestyle wrestler. He can get a bit too aggressive at times though as his constant wrestling style does drain his gas tank. He fought a 5 round fight in his last fight, and although looking tired in round 3 after fighting a very active round 1 and 2, he still pushed forward and was able to control on top in the later moments of the fight. He may take a more reserved approach in this fight to maintain a pace for the whole fight. I haven't seen much striking out of Richie as he is always looking to wrestle, but he seems to be comfortable on the feet. I don't think Gennrich's striking is overly technical or dangerous, but it works well for what he looks to achieve. In this fight I do expect Richie to be finding the takedowns and controlling on top. He will be the “minute winner” in the fight for sure, but it comes down to whether or not Richie can avoid the submission attempts of Gennrich. Gennrich has submitted very talented fighters before so I wouldn't be surprised by it, but I am going to pick Richie Lewis to win a decision by dominating in top control. I also expect the winner of this fight to be on the Contender Series this year.
NATASHA KUZIUTINA (5-1) vs. BRUNA ELLEN (7-4) – Interim Women's Strawweight Championship
Natasha Kuziutina is a former bronze medalist in the Olympics, and is a multiple time silver and bronze medalist in the world championships in judo. She has held a perfect professional MMA record aside from a loss to Fatima Kline last year who is regarded as one of the best prospects in all of MMA and is already confirmed to be competing on Contender Series this year. She is 35 years old so she is older for a prospect at 115 lbs, but she only started competing in MMA recently after competing in judo for nearly two decades. Her opponent is Bruna Ellen who is a former Bellator fighter who I assume was released following the PFL/Bellator merger. Ellen is a very good striker but I do expect Natasha to find a lot of success with her grappling. I feel like the winner of this fight has a good chance at being on the Contender Series as well, but more likely Natasha as she is on a good win streak. I'm going to pick Kuziutina to win by submission.
FURY FC 91: Moran vs. Rodriguez
Fury FC looks to deliver another card stacked with prospects. There are a couple of fighters on this card I am very confident could sign with the UFC with impressive wins this weekend in Paris Moran and Yadier DelValle. The card can be watched on UFC Fight Pass and will start at 02:30 PM ET on Sunday 9th June.
PARIS MORAN (10-2) vs. FREDDIE RODRIGUEZ (6-1) – Flyweight Championship
Paris Moran is a prospect I am very confident could fight in the UFC right now. I feel like he has been due for the call up for a couple of fights now, and if he wins this match up I would be disappointed if he wasn't at least signed for the Contender Series. Moran is a wrestler who is big for the weight class. He fought Joshua Van in 2022 and lost in the second round by TKO, but in the first round he was finding success with his takedowns. Van has gone on to find success in the UFC as he is still undefeated in the promotion. Since then he is on a 3 fight win streak. His opponent Freddie Rodriguez is a dangerous striker but he is very small for flyweight. The one time he fought a dominant wrestler was when he fought Nick Piccininni and he lost in the first round. If anything has been holding Moran back, I think it has to be the fact that he hasn't been finding finishes. Although I rate him highly and think he's fun to watch, Mick Maynard has stated before that he wants to see guys get finishes in the regional promotions. I think Moran is dominant enough to make a statement and I will predict him to use his big size advantage to find a finish, and potentially a ticket to the UFC.
YADIER DELVALLE (6-0) vs. PENA ALLAMOV (4-1) – Featherweight
With a win this weekend I'm very confident we see Yadier DelValle either in the UFC or on the Contender Series because he already holds a very recent win over Michael Alswell who is booked for DWCS this year. DelValle is a BJJ black belt with dangerous striking. Allamov is a dominant wrestler who upset another top prospect Justice Torres recently. He isn't the most exciting as all he really does is wrestle. He is massive for the weight class though and likely will be the bigger fighter in the match up. Torres was able to have success against Allomov on the feet and reversing positions on the ground, so if DelValle can do that more effectively he should be able to win the fight. I am quite sold on DelValle as a prospect and I do think he wins as he's more well rounded.
Eternal MMA 85
One of Australia's premier promotions returns with another big card with multiple title fights. The card will be aired on UFC Fight Pass in Perth, Australia at 04:00 AM ET on Saturday 8th June.
ROD COSTA (8-6) vs. KUYA ITO (15-8-1) – Bantamweight Championship
Costa fights at bantamweight for the second time since fighting at featherweight a couple of times – one of those fights challenging for the featherweight Eternal MMA title but coming up short to Justin van Heerden. Before his run at featherweight I had a lot of belief that Costa was going to fight in the UFC one day, but to be honest at the moment I'm not so sure. He is an incredibly talented grappler but a couple of recent losses mean he is going to be a few wins away. Kuya Ito is from Japan so will be travelling over to Australia to compete at the event. He is a veteran of RIZIN and is currently on a 5 fight winning streak. He has a few tough losses in his career but has been on a great run of form lately with some big wins. I am quite surprised that he doesn't have many finishes as from what I have seen from him he is a decent striker with a well rounded grappling game. I actually think Costa is going to be in for a very tough fight as I think Ito will be the better striker – If not, he will be much more aggressive. I did see Ito taken down a couple times by fighters bigger than him, which Costa will be as Ito is small for bantamweight. I'm not very confident but Ito has a lot of momentum going into this fight and I'll pick him to win a decision by doing more damage on the feet. With a win there's a chance we may see him in a Road to UFC bonus fight as Dana White has mentioned multiple times that the UFC is looking for the next big star out of Japan.
ANTHONY DRILLICH (7-1) vs. MAX LEALI (5-2-1) – Flyweight Championship
Anthony Drillich looks to defend his title for the second time against Hong Kong's Max Leali. Drillich is a scrappy flyweight with big power for the weight class. Leali is mostly a grappler which makes for an interesting stylistic match up as Drillich has been given problems by grapplers before. I like Drillich a lot in this fight though and a win puts him in a very good position to fight at UFC 305 or on the Contender Series. I'm going to pick Drillich to win by knockout.
Cage Warriors 173: Wilson vs. Carrillo
Cage Warriors returns to San Diego with another card in the USA. I do believe that Cage Warrior's best events do take place in Europe but this event does feature some big prospects and UFC veterans. It can be watched on UFC Fight Pass and starts on Friday 7th June at 09:00 PM ET.
WILSON REIS (28-13) vs. BRUNO SOUZA (11-3) – Featherweight
Although not the main event, this is definitely the most interesting fight on the card. Reis is a 13 fight UFC veteran who last fought for the promotion in 2019 against Alexandre Pantoja at flyweight. He has since fought for local promotions all over the world and has found a lot of success fighting upcoming prospects, veterans, and pretty much anyone who will sign up to fight him. He moves up to featherweight this weekend to take on another former UFC fighter in Bruno Souza. Souza only fought twice for the promotion before being released, going 0-2. He has a karate background and has used that base to compete for Karate Combat where he has found mixed success. He returned to MMA against the legendary Teruto Ishihara 8 months ago and looks to fight again. Reis is a grappler who will want to take the fight down. The majority of people are picking Reis to beat Souza but I have a hard time seeing Reis being able to consistently keep Souza down with such a significant size disadvantage – Reis is 5'4″, and Souza is 5′ 10″. Not to mention Reis is 39 years old and Souza is entering his prime – He turned 28 recently. I'm going to pick Souza to win a decision by keeping the fight striking where he holds an advantage.
KSW 95: Wiklacz vs. Przybysz 5
Definitely the biggest card on this weekend outside of the UFC. I used to watch every KSW event but since becoming a student I haven't had the time (or sleep schedule) to keep up with their cards. This one starts at 5 am for me, but starts at 01:00 PM ET on Friday 7th June. The card will be aired on PPV on KSW TV.
JAKUB WIKLACZ (15-3-2) vs. SEBASTIAN PRZYBYSZ 5 (12-3) – Bantamweight Championship
In the main event Jakub Wiklacz and Sebastian Przybysz fight each other for the 5th time which is crazy. Wiklacz has won twice, Przybysz has won once, and their most recent meeting ended in a draw because Wiklacz kicked Przybysz in the head in the 5th round while Przybysz was grounded. It's really hard to pick as Przybysz is the better striker but Wiklacz is the better grappler. Whenever these two meet something interesting happens which is why KSW has matched them together 5 times. I do like Wiklacz' wrestling so I'll side with him this time to end the rivalry. But if Przybysz wins then it will be 2-1-2 and we may see a 6th fight…
PHIL DE FRIES (24-6) vs. AUGUSTO SAKAI (16-5-1) – Heavyweight Championship
In the co-main event Phil de Fries defends his title against former UFC fighter Augusto Sakai. De Fries has beaten everyone KSW has put in front of him, and I don't see this fight being much different. Sakai is too one dimensional and I can see De Fries finding success on the ground.
If you do end up watching the card live, keep an eye out for former UFC and PFL fighter Marcin Held as he looks to get his first KSW win, as well as Brian Hooi who is a personal favourite KSW fighter of mine.
