Your Weekend in Combat Sports

As always, programming is listed in EST
Live fights are in BOLD.
Premiere programming is in ITALICS.
MMA programming is in ORANGE.
Boxing programming is in RED.
Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Karate programming is in BLUE.
Wrestling/Jiu Jitsu/Grappling programming is in PURPLE.
Movies are in AQUA.
Misc. combat sports programming is in GREEN.

Friday May 26

12:00am: UFC Tonight (Fox Sports 1)
12:00am: Kell Brook vs. Shawn Porter (CBS Sports)
1:00am: Jo Jo Dan vs. Kell Brook/Errol Spence Jr. vs. Francisco Javier Castro (CBS Sports)
2:00am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Ronald Cruz (CBS Sports)
3:00am: Kell Brook vs. Shawn Porter (CBS Sports)
4:00am: Jo Jo Dan vs. Kell Brook/Errol Spence Jr. vs. Francisco Javier Castro (CBS Sports)
5:00am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Ronald Cruz (CBS Sports)
6:00am: The Ultimate Fighter (Fox Sports 1)
8:00am: Brook vs. Spence Jr. Weigh-Ins (ESPN3)
8:30am: OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes (FloCombat)
11:30am: UFC’s Greatest Fights: Aldo vs. Mendes (Fox Sports 2)
12:00pm: UFC Tonight (Fox Sports 2)
1:00pm: UFC 165 (Fox Sports 2)
4:00pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa (Fox Sports 2)
6:00pm: UFC Tonight (Fox Sports 1)
7:00pm: The Ultimate Fighter (Fox Sports 1)
7:00pm: Michael Conlan vs. Alfredo Chanez/Matthew Strode vs. Mike Alvarado (UniMas)
7:00pm: 2017 UMMAF National Championships (FloCombat)
8:00pm: UFC 165 (Fox Sports 1)
11:00pm: Lion Fight 36 (AXS)
11:00pm: Dmitry Bivol vs. Samuel Clarkson/Taneal Goyco vs. Travis Reeves (Showtime Extreme)

Saturday May 27

12:00am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Ronald Cruz (CBS Sports)
1:00am: Kell Brook vs. Shawn Porter (CBS Sports)
2:00am: ESPN Films: The Real Rocky (ESPN Classic)
2:00am: Heavy Hitters (ESPN Deportes)
2:00am: Jo Jo Dan vs. Kell Brook/Errol Spence Jr. vs. Francisco Javier Castro (CBS Sports)
2:30am: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
3:00am: 30 For 30: Muhammad And Larry (ESPN Classic)
3:00am: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
3:00am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Ronald Cruz (CBS Sports)
3:20am: The Fight Game With Jim Lampley (HBO)
3:30am: UFC’s Greatest Fights: Aldo vs. Mendes (Fox Sports 1)
4:00am: Kell Brook vs. Shawn Porter (CBS Sports)
4:00am: Lion Fight 36 (AXS)
5:00am: Jo Jo Dan vs. Kell Brook/Errol Spence Jr. vs. Francisco Javier Castro (CBS Sports)
5:20am: The Fight Game With Jim Lampley (HBO Latino)
6:00am: UFC Tonight (Fox Sports 1)
9:00am: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
9:30am: Rocky Balboa (The Movie Channel)
10:00am: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Countdown (Fox Sports 2)
10:30am: UFC Fight Flashback: Gustafsson vs. Jones (Fox Sports 2)
11:00am: UFC Tonight (Fox Sports 2)
11:00am: CES MMA 42 (AXS)
12:00pm: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
1:00pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa (Fox Sports 2)
1:00pm: KSW Colosseum ($11, KSWtv.com)
1:40pm: The Fight Game With Jim Lampley (HBO2)
3:00pm: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
3:00pm: Cinderella Man (Flix)
4:00pm: Grappling Pro Championships Open (FloGrappling)
5:00pm: The Ultimate Fighter (Fox)
5:15pm: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Kell Brook/Fedor Chudinov vs. George Groves (Showtime)
5:30pm: The Hurricane (Flix)
7:00pm: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
7:00pm: 2017 UMMAF National Championships (FloCombat)
8:00pm: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
9:00pm: UFC 165 (Fox Sports 2)
10:00pm: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Kell Brook/Fedor Chudinov vs. George Groves (Showtime Extreme)

Sunday May 28

12:00am: ESPN Films: The Real Rocky (ESPN Classic)
12:00am: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
12:30am: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa (Fox Sports 2)
12:30am: Cinderella Man (Flix)
1:00am: 30 For 30: Muhammad And Larry (ESPN Classic)
1:00am: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 2)
1:00am: Pancrase 287 (UFC Fight Pass)
2:35am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Kell Brook/Fedor Chudinov vs. George Groves (Showtime)
4:00am: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
4:30am: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
8:30am: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Kell Brook/Fedor Chudinov vs. George Groves (Showtime)
9:00am: UFC Fight Night Weigh-Ins (Fox Sports 1)
9:30am: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Prelims (UFC Fight Pass)
10:00am: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Pre-Fight Show (Fox Sports 1)
11:00am: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Prelims (Fox Sports 1)
12:05pm: Southpaw (The Movie Channel Xtra)
1:00pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira (Fox Sports 1)
2:10pm: Rocky Balboa (The Movie Channel Xtra)
4:00pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Post-Fight Show (Fox Sports 1)
5:30pm: UFC 212 Countdown (Fox Sports 1)
6:30pm: The Ultimate Fighter (Fox Sports 1)
7:00pm: 2017 UMMAF National Championships (FloCombat)
7:30pm: UFC Fight Flashback: Aldo vs. Mendes II (Fox Sports 1)
8:00pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Post-Fight Show (Fox Sports 2)
8:00pm: Southpaw (The Movie Channel Xtra)
8:30pm: UFC 212 Countdown (Fox Sports 2)
9:30pm: UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Post-Fight Show (Fox Sports 2)
10:00pm: UFC Ultimate Knockouts (Fox Sports 2)
10:05pm: Rocky Balboa (The Movie Channel Xtra)
10:30pm: UFC 212 Countdown (Fox Sports 1)

Top-10 Viewing Options: Depending on the outcome of a certain hockey game this evening, I’ll either be watching these fights as a happy camper with a hot dog and a beer, or in my darkened apartment under a blanket.

  1. Errol Spence Jr. vs. Kell Brook/Fedor Chudinov vs. George Groves: Awesome card on Showtime, here. Just a fantastic month for boxing. Spence finally gets his shot and can be more than just a prospect.

  2. UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira: Always cool to watch Gus fight in Sweden, although I can’t help feeling he’s lost his fastball a bit.

  3. OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes: Man, when it rains it pours in OneFC. Do they know they’re allowed to space their champions out over a variety of cards?

  4. KSW Colosseum: This is a big KSW house, as I always refer to them as the best MMA promotion in Europe, and they are running a HUGE show. Over 30,000 are expected to watch a who’s who in European MMA.

  5. Pancrase 287: Pancrase with a strong offering, leading off a surprisingly busy Sunday in MMA.

  6. Michael Conlan vs. Alfredo Chanez/Matthew Strode vs. Mike Alvarado: This is an underrated card, maybe the most underrated of the year so far. It was Conlan, the Irish olympic hero headlining, Mike Alvarado, one of the most entertaining, toughest boxers of all-time, and blue-chip prospects in Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Alex Saucedo.

  7. Grappling Pro Championships Open: The rare F2W-less week, but it isn’t totally barren in the world of grappling.

  8. UFC 212 Countdown: BOY, is this card frontloaded, specifically in the main event. Aldo goes down again, this card is dunzo.

  9. The Fight Game With Jim Lampley: Jim is the soundtrack to my younger boxing-watching days, so I can’t help being a Lampley guy.

  10. UFC Fight Flashback: Gustafsson vs. Jones: Watch it, re-score it, see if that was the night Jones should have fallen.

Outside the Tube: Fighters you know or should know that won’t be appearing on your magic television box over the weekend.

• Anselmo Moreno [vs. Julio Ceja, May 27, Centro de Convenciones Amador, Panama City, Panama]
• Robert Berridge vs. Ryan Ford [May 27, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, Singapore]
• Minoru Kimura [vs. Kenji, May 28, Krush 76, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan]
• Garry Tonon vs. Shinya Aoki [May 26, OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes, Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore]
• Valdir Araujo Jr. [vs. Avery McPhatters, May 27, Grappling Pro Championships Open, Bucky Dent Gymnasium, Hialeah, Florida]
• Bruno Bastos [vs. Kevin Gallagher, May 27, Grappling Pro Championships Open, Bucky Dent Gymnasium, Hialeah, Florida]
• Angela Lee [vs. Istela Nunes, May 26, OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes, Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore]
• Ben Askren [vs. Agilan Thani, May 26, OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes, Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore]
• Luis Santos [vs. Zebaztian Kadestam, May 26, OneFC: Dynasty Of Heroes, Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore]
• Mamed Khalidov [vs. Borys Mankowski, May 27, KSW Colosseum, PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]
• Mariusz Pudzianowski [vs. Tyberiusz Kowalczyk, May 27, KSW Colosseum, PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]
• Karol Bedorf vs. Michal Kita [May 27, KSW Colosseum, PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]
• Norman Parke [vs. Mateusz Gamrot, May 27, KSW Colosseum, PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou [vs. Lukasz Jurkowski, May 27, KSW Colosseum, PGE Narodowy Stadium, Warsaw, Poland]
• Rafael Silva vs. Shintaro Ishiwatari [May 28, Pancrase 287, Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan]
• Hatsu Hioki [vs. Hiroshige Tanaka, May 28, Pancrase 287, Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan]
• Eiji Ishikawa [vs. Kenichigo Togashi, May 28, Pancrase 287, Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan]
• Marcin Held [vs. Damir Hadzovic, May 28, UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira, Ericsson Globe, Stockholm, Sweden]

Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: Took a very characteristic L last week. Felt good. Felt home.

Best Fight of the Weekend: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Glover Teixeira
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Mamed Khalidov vs. Borys Mankowski
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Anselmo Moreno over Julio Ceja
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: Brook vs. Spence Jr.
Upset of the Week: Karolina Kowalkiewicz over Claudia Gadelha
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Garry Tonon vs. Shinya Aoki