Brandon Thatch (Isaac Hinds/Sherdog)A Look Ahead: This Week in MMA 2/9 Through 2/14 Trey Downey February 10, 2015 Events, News, Spotlight Last week in MMA was unfortunately not about fights. With the drug test failures of Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, the sport stepped into the mainstream spotlight for all of the wrong reasons. This weekend will be an entirely different story, though. Just like with all of the controversies that the NFL faced this season; all was forgotten when the players stepped on the field. The same can be said for this weekend. Four major promotions, including the big three, will take to the cage on Valentine’s Day weekend. Let’s take a look at all four cards. WSOF 18 World Series of Fighting will be the first fight card up. They will be showcasing their fighters in an interesting new time slot. The card will air live on Thursday night on NBC Sports Network. It is an odd time and day, but WSOF will have the eyes of the MMA world all to themselves, and really, what else are fight fans watching on Thursday night? In the main event, arguably the best bantamweight outside of the UFC, Marlon Moraes, will make the first official defense of his title against the undefeated Josh Hill. Main Card Marlon Moraes vs. Josh Hill- for bantamweight title Shane Campbell vs. Derek Boyle Mukai Maromo vs. Jose Rodriguez Hakeem Dawodu vs. Tristan Johnson Preliminary Card Matt Baker vs. Ali Mokdad Marcus Hicks vs. Graham Park Andrew McInnes vs. Cody McKenzie Mark Drummond vs. Spencer Jebb Dan Lariviere vs. Garret Nybakken Bellator 133 One of Scott Coker’s main talking points in how he would change Bellator was just delivering fun fights. Friday night Bellator will host their second card of the year. There aren’t any titles on the line, but the main event is pretty much the definition of a fun fight. Sluggers Alexander Shlemenko and Melvin Manhoef look to get back on the right track after both were upset in their last fights. Former featherweight champion Pat Curran also returns to the cage against Daniel Weichel. Main Card Melvin Manhoef vs. Alexander Shlemenko Pat Curran vs. Daniel Weichel Julia Budd vs. Gabrielle Holloway Chris Honeycutt vs. Clayton MacFarlane Preliminary Card Nick Bustamante vs. Luis Jauregui John Paul Elias vs. Cody Sons Jonathan Contrestano vs. Ryan Tobar Ray Cervera vs. Adam Piccolloti Mason Fowler vs. opponent TBA Art Arciniega vs. Emilio Chavez Blake Watkin vs. George Zuniga Paul Ruiz vs. Nick Sperling Legacy FC 38 Legacy FC will also kick off a run of two cards in three weeks on Friday night. In the main event, UFC veteran Antony Njokauni faces late replacement Dave Burrow. In the co-main event, bantamweight Josh Sampson will look to extend his winning streak to five when he faces Joseph Sandoval. Main Card Anthony Njokauni vs. Dave Burrow Joseph Sandoval vs. Josh Sampson Caio Machado vs. Steven Peterson Augusto Mendes vs. Evan Martinez Evan Thompson vs. Charles Byrd Saul Elizondo vs. Eli Tamez Andrew Parker vs. Bilal Williams Preliminary Card Mark De La Rosa vs. Keeton Gorton Tristan Grimsley vs. George Pacarariu Levi Mowles vs. Ivan “J.P.” Cole UFC Fight Night 60 The UFC rounds out the action as they give every single man on Earth something fun to do on Valentine’s Day. Colorado’s own Brandon Thatch gets his first main event fight since entering the UFC against an opponent that probably has never been on his radar. Benson Henderson is moving up to welterweight for this fight to save the card after Stephen Thompson had to withdraw due to an injury. Max Holloway will also be trying to get his fifth straight finish when he faces Cole Miller in the co-main event and Neil Magny goes for his sixth straight win overall when he faces Kiichi Kunimoto. Main Card Benson Henderson vs. Brandon Thatch Max Holloway vs. Cole Miller Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Neil Magny Daniel Kelly vs. Patrick Walsh Michel Prazeres vs. Kevin Lee Ray Borg vs. Chris Kelades Preliminary Card Nik Lentz vs. Levan Makashvili Efrain Escudero vs. Rodrigo Lima Jim Alers vs. Chas Skelly Tim Elliott vs. Zach Makovsky James Moontasri vs. Cody Pfister There you have it. Love might be in the air for a lot of people this weekend, but there will also be a multitude of great fights. If for any reason you miss any of the marquee bouts because of a date or something like that, The MMA Corner will have you covered with recaps and video highlights of all of the events.
