Sherdog’s Top 10: Can’t-Miss Fights of September

Generational conflicts have written some of the best stories in mixed martial arts history, and One Championship matchmakers undoubtedly hope they can squeeze a little more juice out of the tried-and-true formula.

The fate of the company’s interim women’s atomweight title will hang in the balance when Stamp Fairtex meets Seo Hee Ham in the ONE on Prime Video 14 headliner on Sept. 29 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. A unification bout with reigning champion Angela Lee likely awaits the winner, perhaps in late 2023 or early 2024.

Fairtex, 25, has emerged as an organizational cornerstone, having already captured titles in kickboxing and muay thai. She carries an 11-2 record in MMA and last competed at ONE on Prime Video 10, where she cut down Alyse Anderson with a body kick in the second round of their May 5 encounter. Fairtex sports six finishes among her 11 victories. Ham, meanwhile, long ago established herself as one of the most respected female fighters in the sport. A former Jewels, Road Fighting Championship and Rizin Fighting Federation titleholder, the 36-year-old South Korean star finds herself on a career-best nine-fight winning streak that spans nearly seven years. Ham last appeared on March 24, when she took a three-round unanimous decision from Itsuki Hirata at ONE on Prime Video 8.

The hotly anticipated Fairtex-Ham showdown is but one can’t-miss fight in September. Here are nine more:

Manon Fiorot vs. Rose Namajunas
UFC Fight Night 226
Sept. 2 | Paris
Fiorot could cement herself as the No. 1 contender in the women’s flyweight division when she welcomes “Thug Rose” to the 125-pound weight class in a co-main event pairing at Accor Arena. The Frenchwoman has rattled off 10 consecutive victories and owns a perfect 5-0 record in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Fiorot, 33, last fought at UFC 280, where she outpointed Katlyn Chookagian to a unanimous decision on Oct. 22. Namajunas opens a new chapter in her career following two title runs at strawweight. The 31-year-old Milwaukee native finds herself on the rebound after a split decision defeat to Carla Esparza cost her the 115-pound championship in their UFC 274 rematch on May 7.

Geraldo Coelho de Lima Neto vs. Magnus Kelly Conrado
LFA 166
Sept 2. | Sao Paulo, Brazil
The vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance welterweight title will be up for grabs when Neto collides with Conrado in a five-round headliner at Ginasio do Polvilho. The promotion’s 170-pound throne was left empty when Trey Waters relinquished the championship to sign with the UFC in April. Neto has put together five straight victories, all of them finishes. The 32-year-old CM System rep last appeared on May 27, when he dispatched Argemiro Delmandes with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their LFA 159 clash. Conrado, 28, has won nine of his past 10 bouts. He last competed at a Russian Cagefighting Championship show, where he subdued Ilyas Khamzin with a first-round arm-triangle choke on May 13.

Bruno Lopes vs. Brendson Ribeiro
DWCS 5
Sept. 5 | Las Vegas
An Ultimate Fighting Championship contract will likely be on the line at the UFC Apex when the accomplished Brazilians lock horns on the fifth week of Dana White’s Contender Series. Lopes, 30, captured the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance light heavyweight championship and improved to 11-0 on Sept. 30, when he buried Willyanedson Paiva with punches in the second round of their LFA 143 affair. He has secured nine of his 11 victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, seven of them inside one round. Ribeiro enters the cage on the strength of back-to-back finishes. The 27-year-old Evolucao Thai product laid claim to the Shooto Brazil light heavyweight title in his most recent appearance, which resulted in a first-round TKO of Joao Paulo Fagundes on Dec. 16.

Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland
UFC 293
Sept. 9 | Sydney
With the Alex Pereira rivalry now in the rearview mirror, Adesanya will defend the undisputed middleweight championship at the 18,000-seat Qudos Bank Arena. “The Last Stylebender” remains one of MMA’s top pound-for-pound talents, having compiled a stellar 13-2 record across his 15 appearances in the UFC. Adesanya has not fought since UFC 287, where the City Kickboxing star avenged a November defeat to Pereira, punched out the Brazilian kickboxer and reclaimed the 185-pound title in the second round of their April 8 rematch. Strickland has posted eight 10 wins over his past 10 assignments. The former King of the Cage champion last competed on July 1, when he turned away Abusupiyan Magomedov with second-round punches atop UFC on ESPN 48.

Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko
UFC Fight Night 227
Sept. 16 | Las Vegas
Now comes the difficult part for Grasso. The longtime Lobo Gym standout will put the women’s flyweight title on the line when she rematches Shevchenko at T-Mobile Arena. Grasso, 30, stunned the MMA world and authored one of the year’s most surprising upsets on March 4, when she submitted the future hall of famer with a face crank in the fourth round of their UFC 285 co-main event. It was the fifth win in a row for the Guadalajara, Mexico, native. The loss was Shevchenko’s first as a bantamweight and ended her remarkable 1,547-day reign atop the 125-pound weight class. She has never suffered consecutive defeats during a 27-fight career that covers more than two decades.

Jakub Wiklacz vs. Sebastian Przybysz
KSW 86
Sept. 16 | Wroclaw, Poland
Wiklacz and Przybysz will complete their tetralogy when they face one another for the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki bantamweight crown at the Hala Orbita. Four-fight rivalries are relatively rare in mixed martial arts circles. Wiklacz holds a 2-1 edge in their head-to-head series. He captured the Polish promotion’s 135-pound championship on Dec. 17, when he eked out a contentious split decision over Przybysz in their five-round KSW 77 co-headliner. They had split their two previous battles: Wiklacz took a unanimous decision under the Absolute Championship Berkut banner on July 1, 2017 before Przybysz answered with a third-round technical knockout at KSW 53 on July 11, 2020.

Bryce Mitchell vs. Dan Ige
UFC Fight Night 228
Sept. 23 | Las Vegas
Plenty of shine was knocked off Mitchell’s star when Ilia Topuria blew off his doors and submitted him with an arm-triangle at UFC 282 in December. Now, “Thug Nasty” gets the chance to show the setback was more a blip on the radar than the start of a trend. Mitchell, 28, was 15-0 prior to his ill-fated scrap with Topuria, his resume highlighted by victories over Edson Barbosa, Andre Fili and Charles Rosa. Ige steps up to the plate on the strength of back-to-back wins. The 32-year-old Xtreme Couture rep last fought at UFC 289, where he outpointed former M-1 Global champion Nate Landwehr to a unanimous decision on June 10.

Aaron Pico vs. Pedro Carvalho
Bellator 299
Sept. 23 | Dublin
Pico appears to be turning a corner and evolving into the all-terrain contender many expected when he joined the Bellator MMA roster as a hyped but unproven prospect in 2017. The Jackson-Wink MMA export has won seven of his last eight fights, his lone defeat the result of a shoulder injury suffered against Jeremy Kennedy in October. Pico returned to the cage at Bellator 295 and did so triumphantly, as he was awarded a unanimous verdict over ames Gonzalez on April 22. SBG Ireland’s Carvalho was a quarterfinalist in the Bellator featherweight grand prix in 2020. However, he has struggled to a 2-5 record in seven appearances since he submitted Sam Sicilia with a face crank in the first round of the tournament.

John Lineker vs. Stephen Loman
ONE on Prime Video 14
Sept. 29 | Kallang, Singapore
Lineker always fits the must-see TV bill. The ex-One Championship and Jungle Fight titleholder sports 22 finishes among his 36 pro wins, 18 of them by knockout or technical knockout. Lineker’s long list of victims includes Bibiano Fernandes, Brian Kelleher, Michael McDonald and Alptekin Ozkilic. “Hands of Stone” last competed at ONE on Prime Video 13, where he missed weight—a recurring issue throughout his career—but punched out Jae Woong Kim in the third round of their Aug. 4 catchweight clash. A former Brave Combat Federation champion, Loman has managed to sneak under the radar despite his current 11-fight winning streak. The 31-year-old Filipino star last fought on Nov. 18, when he took a unanimous decision from the aforementioned Fernandes at ONE on Prime Video 4.