5 MMA Fight Cards to Watch During October UFC Shortage

Hope you loaded up during the warm-weather months. Because now's the time to tap into those reserves. You'll need them. There are lean times ahead.

If you spent the summer eating and stockpiling grubs and berries, that's great. It also means you're either a bear or strange. I was talking about MMA. Come on. Pull yourself together.

See, between now and November 7, there is only one UFC event, that being the relatively minor UFC Fight Night 76. 

That's a whole month, bro, with only the thinnest of UFC fumes to carry one across the divide. What's a fan to do?

I'll tell you what a fan's to do. You don't panic. You relax, take a few deep breaths and read this slideshow to get the lowdown on the five best non-UFC cards going down in October, as well as why they're noteworthy and how you can watch. 

They appear in chronological order.

M-1 Challenge 62

Date: October 10
See it on: M-1 Global TV

As you know, talent from in and around Russia and Europe is flooding the international MMA market. No better place to witness the next wave than a good M-1 event.

In this main event, you've got two of the best up-and-coming featherweights anywhere in Frenchman Mansour Barnaoui and Slovakia's Ivan Buchinger, whose last loss came three years ago to some guy named Conor McGregor.

A few divisions up, German Stephan Puetz might be the best light heavyweight not currently competing in the sport's major leagues. If he can beat his opponent this weekend—an illustrious competitor known as Still To Be Named—he can't be long for the big stage, especially given the overall talent paucity at 205 pounds.

Finally, middleweight Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, the 26-3 27-year-old who has impressive wins in Bellator and elsewhere, has another chance to get off the ground at this event. If he can put all his talents together, he could be a legitimate player.

WSOF 24

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Yushin Okami

Date: October 17
See it on: NBC Sports Network

If it's recognizable names you want, look no further than World Series of Fighting 24, featuring six UFC alums on its evening slate.

In the main event, you have Yushin Okami making his welterweight debut against Jon Fitch, with the winner facing another UFC vet in Jake Shields for the title vacated by yet another former UFCer, the disgraced Rousimar Palhares.

Also on the card are Octagonal familiars Vinny Magalhaes, Matt Hamill, Colton Smith and Patrick Walsh. No immediate title challengers in there, maybe, but still fun to see old faces, I guess. Except Colton Smith. That guy is no fun.

Throw in the ever-popular Nick Newell and hot prospects like flyweight Magomed Bibulatov and featherweight Rick Glenn, and you've got a pretty solid evening of combat on your hands. 

Bellator 144

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Michael Page (right) fights Ricky Rainey

Date: October 23
See it on: Spike TV

If you don't know Brandon Halsey, take this opportunity to acquaint yourself. The undefeated fighter has a legitimate D-1 wrestling base and will fight for the middleweight title he forfeited when he failed to make weight for his title defense in May against UFC veteran Kendall Grove. (Halsey won that by TKO.)

The card lost some luster when promising but star-crossed bantamweight Eduardo Dantas fell injured recently, forcing Bellator to postpone his main event title bout with champ Marcos Galvao.

But the luster was partially restored when a match between two Japanese super prospects in Isao Kobayashi and Goiti Yamauchi was promoted to the main card. 

If that's still not enough luster for you, British striking phenom Michael Page takes on human golf tee Charlie Ontiveros on the telecast. Buckle up.

CES MMA 31

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Chuck O'Neil

Date: October 30
See it on: AXS TV

If you're a dyed-in-the-wool UFC purist, CES is here to help you scrap out the bottom of that barrel. You may remember "Cold Steel" Chuck O'Neil from season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter. Now the Massachusetts native is 6-2 since joining up with the New England region's CES promotion, and he'll try to recover from a recent loss when he takes on Bellator cup-of-coffee-haver Daniel Vizcaya in the evening's co-main event.

In the headliner, you have Gil de Freitas and Chip Moraza-Pollard going for the promotion's vacant welterweight strap. With a combined record of 27-13, this isn't exactly rarefied air. But you know what? It is MMA. And you'll watch it. Because you are addicted. "You" here, of course, definitely meaning "me."

KSW 32

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Mariusz Pudzianowski

Date: October 31
See it on: KSW TV (payment required)

If you've never seen pictured world's-strongest-man-turned-MMA-fighter Mariusz Pudzianowski do his thing in the cage, here's your big chance. He's not going to challenge Fabricio Werdum any time soon, but he will do exactly what you think he'll do, namely be super strong and punch really hard and turn purple from oxygen deprivation within approximately 15 seconds of the opening horn. Trust me. It's more fun than I'm making it sound.

For those who love their strongmen, former competitor and UFC alum Oli Thompson also appears on the card. Those who like high-level fighting action are also in luck; let's not forget that this Poland-based promotion is one of the best smaller shows on the planet. And two of their best prospects, Dagestani Marif Piraev and Pole Mateusz Gamrot, square off on the show. Someone's going home with their first professional loss.

Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more excitement about MMA of both the UFC and non-UFC varieties, follow Scott on Twitter.