Fights on Tap: Kara-France vs. Perez & 12 more UFC bouts

November 22, 2022

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Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Despite its changes, I thought UFC Vegas 65 was an OK offering. Kennedy Nzechukwu shined in his first headliner and finished Ion Cutelaba with some knees and punches. Jack Della Maddalena continued his streak of first-round KOs, adding Danny Roberts to his resume. And Muslim Salikhov and Natália Silva scored highlight-reel stoppages of Andre Fialho and Tereza Bleda. Bellator, ONE Championship, Invicta FC and Cage Warriors were also in action with some great events, so watch those if you missed them! With those events now over, we can look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.

The UFC either announced or finalized 12 fights this week, and a pair of flyweights is headed to Australia next year.

In its return Down Under, the promotion is tapping its biggest stars from the Australia/New Zealand region to compete on UFC 284, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Feb. 11 at RAC Arena in Perth. So its latest addition of flyweights Kai-Kara France and Alex Perez made a lot of sense.

Kara-France started 2022 with a great performance against Askar Askarov at UFC Columbus in March. ‘Don’t Blink’ gave Askarov his first loss as a professional, toppling the previously undefeated fighter by unanimous decision. The City Kickboxing product then vied for the interim UFC flyweight championship against Brandon Moreno, but lost by way of third-round TKO. As for Perez, the Team Oyama has yet to return to the Octagon following his most recent loss to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 in July. Trying to rebuild momentum has been difficult for Perez, who has had seven fights canceled in the last year or so.

UFC 282 — December 10

Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins — light heavyweight

First rep. by Saint Preux on his OnlyFans page

UFC Fight Night — December 17

Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger — welterweight

First rep. by Twitter user @Bendaman2001

David Dvorak vs. Manel Kape — flyweight

First rep. by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania

UFC Fight Night — January 14

Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov — middleweight

First rep. by Red Fury MMA on Instagram

Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson — featherweight

First rep. by Jackson on the Against the Fence podcast

UFC Seoul — February 4

Jun Yong Park vs. Denis Tiuliulin — middleweight

First rep. by Chris Presnell of MMA Ecosystem

UFC 284 — February 11

Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield — light heavyweight

Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross — flyweight

Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez — flyweight

First rep. by Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie

UFC Fight Night — February 25

Ode’ Osbourne vs. Denys Bondar — flyweight

First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency

Hailey Cowan vs. Ailín Pérez — women’s bantamweight

First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie

UFC Fight Night — March 11

Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Silva — flyweight

First rep. by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 290 — February 4

Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko — heavyweight

First rep. by CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse and Shakiel Mahjouri

Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero — light heavyweight

First rep. by CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse and Shakiel Mahjouri

Announced RIZIN FF fights:

RIZIN 40 — December 31

Hideo Tokoro vs. John Dodson — flyweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 148 — December 31

Tobias Harila vs. Damon Wilson — featherweight

Dario Bellandi vs. Justin Barry — middleweight

Nathan Fletcher vs. Alessandro Giordano — bantamweight

Sam Creasy vs. Shaj Haque — flyweight