Shevchenko's fourth defense of the title, the battle between Makhachev and Dos Anjos, and the battle of the top heavyweights: the main events of MMA in November

ACA 113

Date and venue: November 6, Moscow (Russia)

Significant battles: Rashid Magomedov

- Artyom Damkovsky

The ACA 113 show will open the series of major MMA tournaments in November. Initially, the reigning featherweight champion Felipe Froes and Magomedrasul Khasbulaev were supposed to meet in the main fight, but Khabib Nurmagomedov's cousin was seriously injured and dropped out before the end of the year.

In his absence, one of the most intriguing is the duel involving Rashid Magomedov.

For the last eight years, he has performed in the United States and achieved significant success there.

He has five victories in six fights in the UFC, as well as reaching the final of the PFL Grand Prix lightweight.

True, the Russian failed to win the trophy, and the last battles ended not in his favor.

As a result, leaving the Professional Fighters League.

Magomedov will try to revive his career in ACA, and Artyom Damkovsky will be his first opponent.

The Belarusian has achieved significant success in the M-1 Global and twice claimed the lightweight title, but did not succeed.

At the moment, he has 23 wins and 11 losses in his track record.

Ufc

vegas 13

Date and venue: November 7, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights: 

Thiago Santos - Glover Teixeira

The card of the first November UFC tournament does not include a single fight with the participation of Russians, nevertheless, there are still interesting fights.

One of these will be the battle between Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira, in which the future contender for the light heavyweight title may be determined.

Both Brazilians have previously fought for the belt, but lost to the former king of the division, John Jones.

It should be noted that for Santos, this battle will be the first in 16 months.

In July 2019, he seriously injured his knee in a fight with Jones and was eliminated for a long time.

As it became known later, he injured the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, the internal lateral ligament and the meniscus.

However, their meeting with Teixeira was postponed twice for another reason.

Glover tested positive for COVID-19 in September and later became infected with Thiago.

Ufc

vegas 14

Date and place: November 14, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights: Islam Makhachev

- Rafael Dos

,

- Julian Marquez

In mid-November, a tournament will take place, in the main fight of which Islam Makhachev will perform, who will try to seriously declare himself and break into the top 10 of the lightweight division.

Ex-champion Rafael Dos Anjos, returning to the category after a four-year absence, will try to prevent him.

Perhaps this was one of the reasons that the Russian is considered the clear favorite of the upcoming duel according to the bookmakers.

Makhachev will become the ninth Russian to compete in the main battle of the UFC tournament.

Previously, this honor was given to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alexander Volkov, Alexey Oleinik, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Ali Bagautinov, Rustam Khabilov and Yana Kunitskaya.

As for 2020, UFC Vegas 14 will be the fourth show to be led by a fighter from Russia.

UFC 254 crowned Nurmagomedov's fight with Justin Gaethje, UFC Vegas 6 - Oleinik's fight with Derrick Lewis, and UFC Vegas 3 - Volkov's duel with Curtis Blades.

In addition to Makhachev, another postponed fight will take place at the same tournament.

Initially, Saparbeg Safarov was supposed to fight Julian Marquez in August, but for unknown reasons this event was delayed until November.

Taking into account three defeats in the last four fights, a Russian cannot be inferior in any way if he does not want to leave the promotion.

UFC 255

Date and venue: November 21, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights: 

Daveson Figueiredo - Alex Perez, Valentina Shevchenko - Jennifer Maya

The November UFC Main Event will feature two title fights, both of which will be flyweight.

In the first of them, a native of Kyrgyzstan Valentina Shevchenko will hold the fourth title defense, and Jennifer Maya will become her rival.

True, in this battle it is hardly worth expecting a special struggle.

According to bookmakers, the reigning champion is the clear favorite of the duel.

The reason lies not only in her standing skills, but also in the level of her opponent.

It is hard to imagine that in any other division a fighter would have the right to fight for the belt, having won only one of the last two battles.

In the men's lightest category, top-class performers have also always been in short supply, which is why only three fighters owned the belt over the eight years of its existence.

Nevertheless, the battle between Figueredo and Perez promises to be not only quite competitive, but also bright.

Both fighters are famous for their knockout power, which is a rarity for representatives of this weight.

In the statistical rating of the category, Alex leads in the number of knockdowns on average per fight (1.51), and Daveson - in their total number per fight (eight).

ACA 114

Date and venue: November 26, Lodz (Poland)

Significant fights: 

Daniel Omelyanchuk - Tony Johnson

The second ACA tournament in November will be held in the Polish city of Lodz, and the main fight will feature the heavyweight title.

The title became vacant after the former title holder Mukhumat Vakhayev left the organization.

The fighter's promotion contract expired and by mutual decision of the parties, it was decided not to renew it.

Thus, his fight with Daniel Omelyanchuk was canceled, and the American Tony Johnson became the new challenger.

If Omelyanchuk approaches the upcoming duel with four victories in a row, then Johnson has not been able to achieve success in the last two fights.

In June 2019, his battle with Yevgeny Goncharov was declared invalid, and in August he lost to the Russian by unanimous decision.

Nevertheless, that verdict caused serious controversy, and in the course of the fight, the ex-champion was even removed one point for passivity.

Perhaps it was thanks to this that he managed to stay in the top 3 category.

Ufc

vegas 15

Date and place: November 28, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights: 

Curtis Blades - Derrick Lewis

At the end of the month, the UFC will also delight fans with a confrontation between the top fighters of the heavy division.

If Francis Ngannou has practically received the title of the next contender for the belt, then the triumphant of this fight will most likely be the next in line.

This is evidenced at least by the fact that now no one in the top 10 category has a more impressive winning streak than Blades or Lewis.

Curtis won four matches in a row, while Derrick won three.

Moreover, both can be safely called one of the most inconvenient rivals for fighters from Russia.

Over the past four years, they have taken the upper hand over almost every one of the domestic representatives of the top 10 of the heavyweight division.

Volkov, Oleinik and Abdurakhimov suffered defeats from both Americans, and only one of the six battles lasted all the planned rounds.

In July 2020, Volkov lost to Blades by unanimous decision.