The Mixed Martial Arts action is set to come thick and fast in January with a variety of shows incoming from the sport’s biggest promotions.
Saturday, 5th January: Invicta FC 4
The action kicks off tomorrow night with all-female promotion Invicta FC who’s fourth show will be their first to air on pay-per-view.
As usual the card has plenty of talented female fighters lead by a strawweight title fight between Carla Esparza (8-2) and Bec Hyatt (4-1), with Shayna Baszler Vs Alexis Davis and Amanda Nunes Vs Sarah D’Alelio being amongst the other notable bouts.
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Saturday, 12th January: Strikeforce: Marquardt Vs Saffiedine (Last Ever Strikeforce Event)
History will be made the following weekend when Strikeforce holds it’s last ever event before shutting up shop, with a welterweight title fight between Nate Marquardt and Tarec Saffiedine lined up as their last ever fight.
Despite a number of call-offs there’s still a strong undercard too including Daniel Cormier Vs Dion Staring, Gegard Mousasi Vs Mike Kyle and ‘Jacare’ Souza Vs the UFC’s Ed Herman.
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Thursday, 17th January: Bellator Season 8 Premiere On Spike TV
With Strikeforce out of the picture Bellator will unquestionably now be the second biggest promotion in the sport, and it just so happens that a few days after their demise they will be making their long-awaited debut on Spike TV.
Starting off strongly they have two title fights lined up for the season premiere as featherweight champion Pat Curran defends his belt against Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Friere, while lightweight kingpin Michael Chandler goes to battle with Rick Hawn.
Their season 8 light-heavyweight tournament also gets underway featuring notable names like Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral and Seth Petruzelli.
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Saturday, 19th January: UFC On FX 7: Belfort Vs Bisping
The UFC’s first event of the year will be ‘UFC On FX 7’ and takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil with local hero Vitor Belfort going up against title hopeful Michael Bisping.
There’s also heavyweight action as Gabriel Gonzaga takes on Ben Rothwell along with a slew of other Brazilian fighters like Edson Barboza, Diego Nunes and Thiago Tavares.
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Thursday, 24th January: Bellator 86
Bellator’s second show of the year will continue to keep the quality high with Ben Askren defending his welterweight title against Karl Amoussou.
The event is also set to showcase the promotion’s biggest new signing, former Strikeforce 205lb champion Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal who’ll square off with the 16-7 Przemyslaw Mysiala in a light-heavyweight tournament quarter-final bout.
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Saturday, 26th January: UFC On FOX 6: Johnson Vs Dodson
A couple of days later it’s the first big FOX show of the year for the UFC with a flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson getting the headline spot.
There’s the potential for some very entertaining bouts elsewhere on the main card too with Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis set to trade leather, while Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson looks to end his UFC contract on a high against rising star Glover Teixeira.
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Saturday, 31st January: Bellator 87
The final event of the month comes from Bellator who will showcase action from their latest lightweight tournament.
Two of the competitors from the quarter-finals, Patricky Freire and Guillaume DeLorenzi are set to claim main event honors for this one.
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