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

Tetralogies are a rare phenomenon in mixed martial arts, which makes the latest confrontation between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno all the more compelling.

Moreno will challenge his archnemesis for the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight crown when they collide for a fourth time in the UFC 283 co-main event on Jan. 21 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Their head-to-head series sits at 1-1-1. They fought to a majority draw in their first encounter at UFC 256 on Dec. 12, 2020, and they have remained attached at the hip ever since. Figueiredo sank his teeth into the rivalry in their most recent clash, as he rebounded from a June 2021 submission defeat to “The Assassin Baby” and laid claim to a five-round unanimous decision at UFC 270 a little less than a year ago.

The third Figueiredo-Moreno rematch is but one can’t-miss fight in January. Here are nine more:

Felipe Bunes vs. Yuma Horiuchi
LFA 149
Jan. 6 | Chandler, Arizona
The fate of the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight championship will be determined when Bunes meets Horiuchi at Gila River Resorts and Casinos. Carlos Mota vacated the promotion’s 125-pound title to sign with the UFC in October. Buness, 33, operates out of the Pitbull Brothers camp in his native Brazil. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has secured eight of his 12 professional victories by submission. Horiuchi owns a 3-2 record in the LFA, his wins over Juan Puerta, Mark Climaco and Donavon Frelow offset by defeats to Charles Johnson and Leandro Gomes. Three of the 25-year-old Japanese kickboxer’s four professional losses have resulted in split verdicts.

Aung La N Sang vs. Gilberto Galvao
ONE on Prime Video 6
Jan. 13 | Bangkok, Thailand
A former two-division titleholder in One Championship, Sang seeks his third win in four appearances when he suits up at the Impact Arena. The 37-year-old Sanford MMA rep last competed at ONE 163, where he put away Yushin Okami with punches in the first round of their Nov. 19 battle. Sang boasts 26 finishes among his 28 pro victories—a prodigious 93% finish rate. Galvao, 40, carries the Astra Fight Team flag. The onetime Aspera Fighting Championship and Nitrix Champion Fight titlist has not fought since being knocked out by a volley of Reinier de Ridder knee strikes at ONE “Legendary Quest” in June 2019. Galvao holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and luta livre.

Javid Basharat vs. Mateus Mendonca
UFC Fight Night 217
Jan. 14 | Las Vegas
Two undefeated high-level bantamweight prospects are booked opposite one another to help kick off the UFC’s 2023 campaign. Basharat, 27, trains out of the powerhouse Xtreme Couture camp in Las Vegas. He has nailed down 11 of his 13 victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, eight of them inside one round. Basharat moved to 2-0 inside the Octagon in September, when he took a unanimous decision from former CES MMA and King of the Cage champion Tony Gravely at UFC Fight Night 210. Mendoca reps the Chute Boxe affiliate fronted by Diego Lima in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This marks the promising 23-year-old’s first appearance since he punched his ticket to the UFC with a 48-second knockout of Ashiek Ajim during Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series in September.

Kristina Williams vs. Ketlen Souza
Invicta 51
Jan. 18 | Denver
The vacant Invicta Fighting Championships flyweight title will be up for grabs in the Invicta 51 co-headliner, as the promotion seeks a replacement for the departed Karina Rodriguez. Williams, who burst on the mixed martial arts scene with Bellator MMA in 2017, enters the match on a three-fight winning streak. The 33-year-old Oklahoma native last fought at Invicta 48, where she submitted Liana Ferreira Pirosin with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their July 20 pairing. Souza, 28, has rattled off four consecutive victories. She made her organizational debut in September, when she outdueled Maiju Suotama to a unanimous decision at Invicta 49.

Glover Teixeira vs. Jamahal Hill
UFC 283
Jan. 21 | Rio de Janeiro
An injury to Jiri Prochazka, along with the inability of Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz to settle their score across five rounds, left the door to the UFC light heavyweight throne room open. In steps Teixeira and Hill, who will square off for the vacant 205-pound championship at Jeunesse Arena in Brazil. Teixeira, now 43 years of age, has won six of his past seven bouts but has not fought since he surrendered the light heavyweight crown in an epic war of attrition with Prochazka in June. Hill climbs into the cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak comprised of knockouts of Jimmy Crute, Johnny Walker and Thiago Santos. The 31-year-old owns a 5-1 record in the UFC.

Mauricio Rua vs. Ihor Potieria
UFC 283
Jan. 21 | Rio de Janeiro
If this indeed marks the end of the road for Rua, what a road it has been. The 2005 Pride Fighting Championships Middleweight Grand Prix winner and former UFC light heavyweight champion plans to retire following his clash with Potieria in Brazil. “Shogun” spent the better part of a decade as one of the sport’s most revered and accomplished competitors before age and mileage finally caught up to him. Rua, 41, last appeared at UFC 274, where he wound up on the wrong side of a split decision against Ovince St. Preux on May 7. Potieria’s resume features 13 first-round finishes, three of the sub-minute variety. The Ukrainian saw a 15-fight winning streak grind to a halt in his Octagon debut, as he bowed to second-round punches and knees from Nicolae Negumereanu at UFC 277 in July.

Michal Materla vs. Kendall Grove
KSW 78
Jan. 21 | Szczecin, Poland
Grove returns to the mixed martial arts scene for the first time in well over three years, drawn back into the fire with the promise of a rematch he has long sought. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner will meet Materla for a second time when they headline the first Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki show of the New Year. Grove dropped a four-round unanimous decision to well-regarded Pole in a failed bid to capture the company’s undisputed middleweight championship at KSW 23 on June 8, 2013. The 6-foot-6 Hawaiian has not suited up for KSW since. Materla remains a staple of the Polish promotion. However, the 38-year-old Berserkers Team cornerstone finds himself on the rebound after being punched out by five-time World Strongest Man winner Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 70 in May.

Eric Alequin vs. Thad Jean
PFL Challengers 1
Jan. 27 | Orlando, Florida
High-ceiling prospects will look to take flight when the Professional Fighters League gets its ball rolling in 2023. Alequin, 32, has raced out to a 7-0 start to his career. The Sanford MMA export last appeared on March 17, when he claimed the vacant Cage Fury Fighting Championships welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Hugh Pulley in the CFFC 106 co-feature. Jean has made successful stops in Combate Global, the CFFC, the Legacy Fighting Alliance and CES MMA. The undefeated 24-year-old trains under former Shooto Brazil and Titan Fighting Championship titleholder Gesias Cavalcante in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Jose Mauro do Amaral Delano vs. Gabriel Santos
LFA 151
Jan. 28 | Cajamar, Brazil
Unclaimed for more than a year, the Legacy Fighting Alliance featherweight title will finally get a new address when Delano and the unbeaten Santos duke it out at the Ginasio do Polvilho. Bruno Souza vacated the 145-pound championship to sign with the UFC in October 2021. A Brazilian Top Team product, Delano enters the match with the wind of an 11-fight winning streak in his sails. He last fought at LFA 143, where he wiped out Jair Jesuino with a knee strike in the first round of their Sept. 30 confrontation. Santos has finished six of his first nine opponents, four of them inside one round. The 26-year-old last appeared on Nov. 4, when he brought down Marcio dos Santos Barbosa with a head kick in the second round of their LFA 146 main event.