Another month of mixed martial arts action is upon us, and you can check out our list of must-see events in May below.
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Saturday, May 7th: Invicta FC 17 – Evinger Vs Schneider
Where: California, United States
All-female promotion Invicta FC starts off the months action on the UFC Fight Pass service with a title fight between bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger and Colleen Schneider.
There’s also a second title on the line at this show, with Livia Souza defending her strawweight title against former UFC fighter Angela Hill.
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Sunday, May 8th: UFC Fight Night 87 – Arlovski Vs Overeem
Where: Rotterdam, Holland
The UFC makes there first ever visit to Holland this coming Sunday, and naturally hometown heavyweight hero Alistair Overeem is headlining the show against fellow top 5 contender, Andrei Arlovski.
Also be on the look out for more heavyweight action in the co-main event as another Dutch star Stefan Struve faces Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, while Gunnar Nelson Vs Albert Tumenov is also an intriguing main card match-up.
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Saturday, May 14th: UFC 198 – Werdum Vs Miocic
Where: Curitiba, Brazil
UFC 198 head to a soccer stadium in Curitiba with one of the most star-studded cards in recent memory, with heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum fronting the show with his first title defense against Stipe Miocic.
Co-main event honors go to middleweight stars Vitor Belfort and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, while Anderson Silva fights Uriah Hall, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua takes on Corey Anderson and Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino makes her long-awaited debut against Leslie Smith.
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Saturday, May 14th: Bellator 154 – Davis Vs King Mo
Where: San Jose, United States
Bellator also have an important even planned for May 14th, featuring a light-heavyweight No.1 contender bout between recent 205lb Bellator Grand-Prix winner Phil Davis and Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal who won Rizin’s heavyweight GP at the tail end of last year.
Bellator had planned to put Josh Thomson up against Michael Chandler in the co-main event of the show, but at the time of writing former UFC fighter Thomson has just pulled out due to an injury, so it remains to be seen how they’ll deal with that situation on relatively short notice.
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Friday, May 20th: Bellator 155 – Carvalho Vs Manhoef
Where: Idaho, United States
Bellator are back at it a week later, with new middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho fighting Melvin Manhoef in the evening’s top billing.
Pat Curran fights Georgi Karakhanyan in the co-main event, while for some reason Bellator have stuck former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen on the undercard for her fight with ex-UFC fighter Julia Budd.
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Sunday, May 29th: UFC Fight Night 88 – Almeida Vs Garbrandt
Where: Las Vegas, United States
The final event of the month sees the UFC pitting two of their most exciting and undefeated rising stars Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt together in the main event of UFC Fight Night 88.
Former bantamweight champion Renan Barao also returns to make his featherweight debut against Jeremy Stephens, while a string of other noteworthy bouts include Tarec Saffiedine Vs Rick Story, Jorge Masvidal Vs Lorenz Larkin, Josh Burkman Vs Paul Felder and Aljamain Sterling Vs Bryan Caraway, to name but a few.
