ACA 208, ONE Fight Night 48, RIZIN: Weekend MMA Preview, Picks

UFC 332 owns Saturday night in Salt Lake City, and it has its own page. This piece is about everything else, and there is a lot of everything else: six cards in five countries between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon, from Lumpinee Stadium to Grozny.

I have ranked them by how good they are, not by when they start. Fair warning that half of these cards were still being assembled on Monday. ONE Friday Fights 173 had 13 of its 14 bouts land on the card on September 28. ACA 208 picked up nine of its 16 fights between Sunday and Tuesday, then moved its start two hours earlier. BKFC rebuilt a fight and shifted its bell by 30 minutes. If you plan your weekend off a card you saw last Thursday, plan again.

When

1. ACA 208: Shaikhaev vs Tumenov (Grozny, Sunday)

This is the best fight of the weekend outside Salt Lake City, and it was supposed to happen in August. Daud Shaikhaev (18-5-1) and Bibert Tumenov (16-2) were booked for ACA 206 on August 15 and the bout fell off. Now it headlines at the Sport Hall Colosseum over five rounds for the lightweight title.

Tumenov has won six straight since a decision loss to Islam Omarov in March 2021, five of them inside the distance, and the last three all ended in the first two rounds: Raush Manfio in the first, Pavel Gordeev 31 seconds into the second, Alexander Grozin at 2:31 of the first in February. Twelve of his 16 wins are knockouts, and nobody has stopped him.

Shaikhaev is the harder man to read. He won the five-round title fight over Herdeson Batista at ACA 198 in January on the cards, and nine of his 18 wins went to decision. He is unbeaten since Ali Bagov outpointed him over five rounds in June 2024 (two wins and a draw). He has been knocked out once in 24 pro fights.

The consensus line opened Tumenov -275 and has drifted to -300, with Shaikhaev +200 out to +220. I understand why. But the one thing Tumenov has rarely had to do is fight in the fourth round, and Shaikhaev is built to drag him there. I keep talking myself toward the long fight and then looking at those three finishes again.

Prediction: Tumenov by TKO, round three.

On the undercard, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov (22-2) moves up to welterweight against Gleison Tibau, who is 42 and had 28 UFC fights. The line is -2000 on Abdulvakhabov, the widest on any card this weekend, and he knocked out Bagov, the last man to beat Shaikhaev, in July 2025. Kurban Taigibov (16-4) against Dzhambulat Selimkhanov (16-4) is the other one to watch: it was booked for ACA 200 in February and scrapped, and Taigibov is -165. And the bout added on Tuesday, Magomed Sulumov (13-5) against former PFL man Sheymon Moraes (17-7), has a neat thread: Sulumov lost a decision to Grozin in 2024, and Grozin is the man Tumenov flattened in February.

Predictions: Abdulvakhabov by TKO, Taigibov by decision, Moraes by decision.

2. ONE Fight Night 48: Erdogan vs Elliott (Bangkok, Friday night ET)

Shamil Erdogan is 13-0, and his last three fights lasted a combined 3 minutes and 32 seconds: Aung La N Sang in 28 seconds, Gilberto Galvao in 44, Ryugo Takeuchi at 2:20. He is 36 and has not fought since that Takeuchi finish in November.

Paul Elliott (7-2) has never won a pro fight any way but by knockout, and he knocked out Regan Upshaw in eight seconds in June. Here is the uncomfortable common opponent: Elliott also fought Takeuchi, in April 2025, and needed until one minute into the third round to stop him. Erdogan did it in the first. Both of Elliott's losses came by knockout, to Kang Ji Won and Mauro Cerilli.

Five rounds are scheduled at heavyweight. I doubt anyone needs them.

Prediction: Erdogan by TKO, round one.

The strawweight fight is the undercard pick. Lee Seung Cheol (13-1) has won 13 straight since losing his debut, most recently decisions over Fabio Henrique and Bokang Masunyane, and he beat Hiroba Minowa on points in July 2025. Karen Ghazaryan (6-1) was submitted by that same Minowa in the first round in April. Also watch 22-year-old Antônio César (14-2), who beat Lito Adiwang in his ONE debut in July, against the unbeaten Joshua Perreira (6-0).

Predictions: Lee by decision, César by decision.

3. ONE Friday Fights 173 (Bangkok, Friday morning ET)

The billed main event is Buakaew Sor Sor Pakorn (2-0 in Muay Thai, both split decisions) against Nat Khat Min, at -300 and +200. The fight that matters sits further down: Regian Eersel against George Jarvis for the lightweight Muay Thai title, over five rounds.

They have met before. Eersel knocked Jarvis out in 1:23 at ONE Fight Night 34 in August 2025. Since then Jarvis has beaten Sinsamut Klinmee by decision and knocked out Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong in the second round in June. Eersel beat that same Rungrawee over five rounds in a kickboxing title fight in April, and the line has Eersel at -300 again. Jarvis has earned the rematch. I am not sure he has closed a gap that wide in 14 months.

Prediction: Eersel by decision.

For MMA fans who stumble in at 7:30 a.m., Imran Satiev (5-1) against Babar Ali (10-3) is a flyweight fight between two men who have both lost to Chayan Oorzhak. Satiev is -220, but Oorzhak stopped him last November, and Ali has won three straight since his own loss to Oorzhak.

Prediction: Babar Ali by TKO, my upset of the weekend.

4. RIZIN LANDMARK 16 (Nagasaki, overnight Friday ET)

Yoshinori Horie (15-6) and Sho Patrick Usami (9-5) headline over three rounds at lightweight, no title, and both men are coming off the same pattern: a submission loss, then a win. Horie beat Patricky Freire by split decision in April after Roberto Satoshi de Souza choked him out in 1:40. Usami knocked out Tatsuya Saika at 1:38 of the first in May after Taisei Sakuraba caught him in the third round in Kobe.

Usami is 26 and Horie is 31. Horie has been knocked out twice; Usami, whose five losses are two submissions and three decisions, never has.

Prediction: Usami by KO, round two.

The co-main has real stakes too. Viktor Kolesnik (26-6-1) has lost two straight, including a 33-second stoppage by Rajabali Shaidullaev, and meets Koyomi Matsushima (15-8), who was submitted by Ryan Cafaro in May. Cafaro is on this card as well.

Prediction: Kolesnik by decision.

5. PFL MENA 11: Riyadh (Friday)

Mostafa Rashed Nada (9-4) and Osama ElSeady (9-3) headline over five rounds at middleweight at Boulevard Riyadh, and ring rust is the whole story. Nada has not fought since Haider Khan stopped him in the first round in January 2025. ElSeady has not fought since a first-round submission win in December 2023. They are both listed at 6 feet with a 73-inch reach; the difference is age, 38 against 28.

The consensus line has Nada at -272, barely moved from -265. His two wins before the Khan loss were both first-round stoppages.

Prediction: Nada by TKO, round one, with the least confidence of any pick in this piece.

The line that did move is lower down. Shadi Kabbani (4-0) against Mehdi Saadi (7-2) opened at -115 on both sides and now sits at Kabbani -152, the biggest move on the card. Elias Boudegzdame (21-9) also has a new opponent in Islam Youssef (7-3), who replaced Hamza Kooheji on September 24.

Prediction: Kabbani by decision.

6. BKFC Fight Night Australia (Queensland, Saturday)

Haze Hepi (3-1 in BKFC) meets Sam Shewmaker (5-4-1) over five rounds at heavyweight. Hepi knocked out Krzysztof Wiśniewski in the second round in April, avenging a third-round stoppage loss to him last October. Shewmaker is 42 and has not fought since August 2024. Hepi also has the reach, 81 inches to 76.

Prediction: Hepi by KO, round two.

The churn here is the welterweight fight. The original pairings, Josh Kuhne against Elaiah Bishop and Brentin Mumford against Shaun Curran, are both gone, and Tuesday's rebuild is Kuhne (1-0) against Curran. This is Curran's bare-knuckle debut; his three pro Muay Thai fights all ended in second-round stoppage losses. Kuhne's only BKFC win was a third-round TKO of Mick Whitehead, who is also on this card.

Prediction: Kuhne by TKO.

The short version

If you watch one thing outside UFC 332, make it Tumenov and Shaikhaev on Sunday. If you watch two, stay up Friday for Erdogan, because his fights rarely give you time to make coffee. And if a card changes again before the weekend, the event pages above will know before I do.