Worldwide MMA Preview – One FC, Bellator and Victory FC

One FC will kick the weekend off with an event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday. The main event is a featherweight fight between Ev Ting and Eric Kelly. Kelly hails from the Philippines and has a 12-1 professional MMA record. Five of his wins have come in One FC including a victory over Jens Pulver. Ting is from Malaysia so he will have the crowd behind him as he looks to set up a rematch with current One FC featherweight champion Marat Gafurov. Ting is currently 10-3 with four wins in One FC.

Bellator present a card on Friday night from California, United States. The card is headlined by a fight between Paul Daley and Andy Uhrich. Daley is a veteran who has fought in many top level promotions such as UFC and Strikeforce. He had success in Bellator last year and has not lost since 2013. Uhrich is a regional journeyman, he has had some fights on Bellator preliminary cards before but this is a massive step up for him and a massive mismatch.

The co-main event also takes place at welterweight, it features undefeated prospect Chris Honeycutt against Paul Bradley. This is a rematch with the first fight being declared a no contest due to an accidental clash of heads. Honeycutt is a former college wrestler with a 6-0 MMA record. Aside from the Bradley no contest, Honeycutt has two finishes in Bellator. Bradley could be a good test for him though as he is a veteran who has been competing for a decade. Bradley had a short stint with the UFC and was coming off a main event victory over Josh Neer before the first fight with Honeycutt.

Heavyweights Raphael Butler and Tony Johnson Jr also compete on the main card. Johnson has wins over Tim Sylvia, Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov. Butler is 9-1-1 with some impressive performances in Bellator preliminary bouts under his belt. Rounding out the main card is Patricky Freire and Ryan Couture. Freire is a perennial contender for the Bellator lightweight title while Couture has experience in Strikeforce and the UFC as well as a famous fighting father.

American regional promotion Victory FC will make its debut on UFC Fight Pass on Friday night and the card is headlined by UFC veterans Josh Neer and Anthony Smith. Neer first fought for the UFC over ten years ago and last fought for them in 2013 which shows his level of experience. His last two fights have been defeats in Bellator so he will be hoping to get back on track here in his home promotion. Smith and Neer fought in Victory once before, and Neer got the win that night in Smith’s first fight since leaving the UFC. Since then Smith has won six in a row to bring his record to 23-11. Smith was originally due to fight Elvis Mutapcic but Mutapcic got a UFC call a few weeks out which forced a change.

Two other UFC veterans, Jake Lindsey and Yuri Villefort will also be competing on the card.