Previewing This Weekend's MMA Events

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The UFC is off this weekend, once again, but the MMA world will continue to put out great event after great event.

Among the promotions putting on cards are World Series of Fighting, RFA and Bellator. They will boast a bevy of talent looking to make a name or to recapture former glory.

Here is a preview of events and notables fighting this weekend.

Bellator 79

MMAweekly

Bellator's seventh season rolls on with two different weight class tournaments, and several exciting fights with notable names.

The main attraction is a heavyweight semifinal between Brazilian Thiago Santos and American Rich Hale. Santos beat Eric Prindle by disqualification to get here, while Hale knocked out Mike Wessel to punch his ticket in.

In the co-feature, a featherweight tournament bout will see Mike Richman take on Shahbulat Shamhalaev. Richman knocked out Jeremy Spoon with a wicked head kick in the quarterfinals, while Shamhalaev knocked out Cody Bollinger to earn a spot in the semifinals.

Filling out the main card are welterweight bouts between Douglas Lima and Jacob Ortiz, as well as Ryan Ford and Kyle Baker. Ford and Lima have the potential to earn spots in next season's welterweight tournament with wins.

Here is the whole fight card:

Thiago Santos vs. Rich Hale

Mike Richman vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev

Douglas Lima vs. Jacob Ortiz

Ryan Ford vs. Kyle Baker

Alexei Kudin vs. Kevin Asplund

Marcus Aurelio vs. Christ Franck

Vitaly Minakov vs. Vladimir Starcencov

Magomedrasul Khasbulaev vs. Josh Pulsifer

Guillaume DeLorenzi vs. Jonny Carson

Josh Appelt vs. Ed Carpenter

RFA 4: Escudero vs. Griffin

mmamania.com

RFA has proven to be a solid promotion that puts on great fights with veterans and prospects alike. This weekend, they come to you with a main event containing two UFC veterans.

Tyson Griffin and Efrain Escudero will do battle in the lightweight division. It will be the first time each has fought since their respective releases from the UFC.

Top prospects looking to make a name for themselves to get into the UFC include Chidi Njokuani, Lance Palmer and Sergio Pettis. Palmer was an assistant coach of Urijah Faber on The Ultimate Fighter, while Pettis and Njokuani are the brothers of UFC fighters Anthony Pettis and Anthony Njokuani.

Other notable names on the card include UFC veteran Fredson Paixao, Marcio Cruz, James Krause and Dakota Cochrane.

Here is the full card:

Efrain Escudero vs. Tyson Griffin

Chidi Njokuani vs. Phil Dace 

Marcio Cruz vs. Joe Yager

Fredson Paixao vs. Lance Palmer

Guilherme Trindade vs. James Krause

Dakota Cochrane vs. Derrick Burnsed

Sergio Pettis vs. Jimmy Jones

Chris Holdsworth vs. Tyler Shinn

Joey Angelo vs. Jordan Isordia

Steve Mocco vs. Tyler Perry

Jerry Shapiro vs. Cory Galloway

World Series of Fighting

cagepotato.com

World Series of Fighting holds their inaugural card on Saturday. It is stacked with veteran talent and up-and-comers who are looking to establish a fanbase. 

The main event sees UFC and Strikeforce veteran Andrei Arlovski take on Strikeforce veteran Devin Cole. It will be a classic striker vs. grappler matchup.

Also on the card are UFC veterans Anthony Johnson, Miguel Torres, Ronys Torres, Brian Cobb, Gerald Harris and others.

It will be interesting to see how good the card is, given the talent. Plus, they have a good TV deal, which in turn could make them successful for a long time to come.

Here is the full card:

Andrei Arlovski vs. Devin Cole

Anthony Johnson vs. D.J. Linderman

Miguel Torres vs. Marlon Moraes

Gregor Gracie vs. Tyson Steele

Tyrone Spong vs. Travis Bartlett

Ronys Torres vs. Brian Cobb

Gerald Harris vs. Josh Burkman

David Branch vs. Dustin Jacoby

Steve Carl vs. Ramico Blackmon

Gesias Cavalcante vs. T.J. O'Brien

Waylon Lowe vs. Fabio Mello

Other Notables in Action

ufc.com

Several notable fighters will be participating in MMA action this weekend with lesser known promotions.

At Super Fight League 7, potential phenom Michael Page meets Haitham Tantawy in the main event of what is now a weekly card. This showdown headlines a card of mostly south Asian fighters who are either making their debut or continuing to build on their young careers.

Abu Dhabi Warriors is putting on a couple of notable fights, including a heavyweight scrap between Maro Perak and Travis Wiuff. Wiuff is coming off the Bellator summer series tournament finals loss to Attila Vegh.

Also on that card will be notables Jose Landi-Jons and Mikhail Zayats. Landi-Jons will make his return against Jevgeniy Mahteenko, while Zayats meets Polish prospect Marcin Elsner.

UFC veterans Vagner Rocha and Steve Bruno are set to fight on the Fight Time 12 card this weekend. Rocha will meet Bruno's brother Mike, while Steve takes on Eric Thompson in the co-feature.

UFC veteran Chris Liguori is set to fight in the main event of CFFC 19. He will meet Brazilian veteran Luiz Azeredo, who is most known for beating Anderson Silva back in 2000.

Lastly, AFC is set to bring a couple of good fights from Canada. UFC veterans John Alessio and Kendall Grove will take on respective opponents Dave Mazany and Ariel Gandulla in the main and co-main events.