The good news? UFC Fight Pass promises to deliver more than 250 live martial arts events in 2019. The bad news? You don’t have time to watch it all.
But I do.
“Fights Passed” aims to sift through the offerings each week on UFC Fight Pass and send you directly to the action you need to watch to get the most out of your monthly subscription. The recommendations will be made spoiler free.
This week, UFC Fight Pass turned away from MMA in favor of featuring two striking organizations making their live-stream debut with World Lethwei Championship (WLC) and Muay Thai Grand Prix, as well as the latest edition of Eddie Bravo’s hybrid grappling sport, Combat Jiu-Jitsu.
The action started this week in the wee hours of Friday morning, with Myanmar’s World Lethwei Championship.
Referred to as “The Art of Nine Limbs,” Lethwei is full-contact bare-knuckle kickboxing, where punches, kicks, knees, elbows and even headbutts are allowed. Fights consist of five, three-minute rounds, and there’s a two-minute rest period between each round.
The action is fast right from the start. Fighters don’t start from their corners, but right in the center of the ring, so exchanges happen almost immediately. Traditional music is played in the arena, and the pace of the tune speeds up along with the intensity of the fight. Fighters wrap their hands with gauze and tape, but there are no gloves.
Headbutts come into play largely in the clinch, where short, grinding strikes ensure it’s hardly a place to hang out and rest.
If you’re new to the sport, Friday’s “WLC: Mighty Warriors” offered a great introduction to the action. Feel free to check out the full eight-card if you’ve got three-plus hours to spare. Otherwise, check out these three fights:
- Pich Mtes Khmang vs. Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat
- Shwe Yar Mann vs. Sasha Moisa
- Saw Htoo Aung vs. Antonio Faria – for inaugural light welterweight title
Also see: “World Lethwei Championship: Mighty Warriors” full results
Friday night saw the return of Combat Jiu-Jitsu Fight Night, a finish-only grappling event that doesn’t feature any points, advantages or judges. All submissions are legal, and open-hand strikes are allowed to the body, head and face if one or both combatants are grounded.
Matches are scheduled for a 10-minute regulation period. If no finish occurs, Eddie Bravo Invitational overtime rules are used to determine a winner.
Friday’s event featured an eight-man bantamweight grand prix, with the winner earning a spot in the Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds later this year. Among the entrants was former UFC flyweight Brandon Moreno, whose tournament run did a great job showcasing the growing sport. Check out all three of his matches:
- Match 1: Ryan Carroll vs. Brandon Moreno
- Match 2: Brandon Moreno vs. Beau Brooks
- Match 3: Richard Alarcon vs. Brandon Moreno
If you want to watch the full event, it runs about two-and-a-half hours. Otherwise, at a minimum, I’d recommend catching two other contests on the card, one featuring longtime MMA notable Kevin Casey, and another with an athlete considered one of the greatest women’s grapplers in history, Beatriz “Bia” Mesquita.
Also see: “Combat Jiu-Jitsu Fight Night: Absolute Championship” full results
Lastly, Sunday brought the live debut of Muay Thai Grand Prix from Paris.
If you’re a fan of hardcore rap, you might want to let the full two-hour event play in the background, because that’s generally the music of choice throughout the presentation. Be warned, though – if you’re at work, you might want to keep the sound down, since the organization doesn’t seem to mind playing the unedited version of the tracks.
The full card features six bouts, though there was a clear favorite for me, with high intensity from the opening bell and a bit of a controversial ending:
If you’re feeling up to one more contest, the main event doesn’t feature the type of definitive ending or highlight-reel action that would make it a must-watch for me, but there are some real momentum sways and heart shown in the fight:
Also see: Muay Thai Grand Prix full results
That’s it for this week. Let me know what you think of the recommendations.
Next week’s UFC Fight Pass lineup features the live debut of Warrior Extreme Cagefighting, a pair of boxing events and Europe’s top MMA promotion, as well as four prelim bouts from UFC 235.
- Wednesday, Feb. 27 – “WXC: Warrior Wednesday 1”
- Thursday, Feb. 28 – “Roy Jones Jr. Boxing: Ximenez vs. Lopez”
- Friday, March 1 – “Friday Night Fights: Pina vs Martinez”
- Saturday, March 2 – “Cage Warriors 102: Webb vs. Robertsen”
- Saturday, March 2 – UFC 235 prelims