Hope you're ready for a loaded schedule of fights.
Bellator MMA and the UFC will host live events this weekend. Bellator NYC will take place Saturday inside Madison Square Garden and be available on pay-per-view. The following day, UFC Fight Night will go down in Oklahoma City.
A combined 27 bouts, including three championship fights (all Bellator). That's 89 scheduled rounds and nearly 7.5 hours of potential fight time.
What are the must-see matchups in all this? Here are my top 10 fights to keep an eye on during this stacked weekend.
1. Aaron Pico (0-0) vs. Zach Freeman (8-2), lightweight, Bellator MMA
I understand I might lose you right off the bat by ranking Pico's professional debut as No. 1 on this list. But honestly, nothing else this weekend intrigues me more.
Pico is a 20-year-old prospect out of Southern California who missed making the U.S. Olympic wrestling team last year by one point. He was boxing at age 7 and has won a junior Golden Gloves amateur title.
Bellator executives thought so highly of Pico that they signed him in 2014, when he was 18. Maybe it's hyperbole to call him the greatest prospect of all time -- then again, maybe it's dead on. It's not every day this kind of prospect makes his debut at Madison Square Garden.
2. Michael Chiesa (14-2) vs. Kevin Lee (15-2), lightweight, UFC
A scuffle between these two during a news conference in May was a nice touch for the cameras, but this fight really shouldn't need any special effects to get your attention.
Last summer, Chiesa was scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson in a five-round main event but was forced to pull out with a back injury. The fact the UFC wanted that matchup in the first place suggests how high Chiesa's stock has been. Lee, meanwhile, has remained one of the division's best kept secrets, although word is starting to get out now, thanks to his 8-2 record in the UFC.
These two lightweights are at the top of their games and carrying a lot of momentum. All "mom comments" aside, this is a main event worth watching.
3. Chael Sonnen (28-15-1) vs. Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1), light heavyweight, Bellator MMA
Even when it was originally supposed to happen back in 2014, it didn't really mean a whole lot. It was a Sonnen-esque beef story, perpetuated by a gym brawl caught on the UFC's reality television cameras.
Fate -- or random drug tests, to be more specific -- intervened and delayed this fight until now. On paper, it's not the most compelling matchup, especially considering how poor Sonnen looked recently against Tito Ortiz. Silva hasn't fought since 2013.
Sonnen has joked (?) this fight will determine whom the worst fighter in the world is. Ultimately, it's a throwback to a different time, and something about this particular clash of personalities has always worked. Don't take this one too seriously. Just enjoy.
4. Douglas Lima (28-6) vs. Lorenz Larkin (18-5), welterweight championship, Bellator MMA
One of three Bellator championship fights. And for my money, it's the most intriguing stylistic matchup of them all.
Larkin hasn't fought in nearly one year, thanks to lengthy contract negotiations between Bellator and the UFC in 2016. It's worth remembering what he'd done back then though, including wins over Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny, two highly ranked contenders in the UFC.
Lima, with his 24 finishes in 28 career wins, is a perfect way to introduce Larkin to his new home. And in a division that features Rory MacDonald, Paul Daley, Michael Page, Brennan Ward and Andrey Koreshkov, this Bellator title means something.
5. Phil Davis (17-3) vs. Ryan Bader (22-5), light heavyweight championship, Bellator MMA
The minute Bader signed with Bellator MMA in March, this was the obvious fight to make.
With Bader and Davis ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, according to ESPN.com, this was the highest-ranked fight Bellator could make. They already met in January 2015, under the UFC banner. Bader won a split decision, in what turned out to be Davis' last UFC fight.
6. James Gallagher (6-0) vs. Chinzo Machida (5-2), featherweight, Bellator MMA
Gallagher, a 20-year-old Irishman, doesn't carry quite the same level of hype as his counterpart in Pico, but he is surely a big piece of Bellator's future as well.
A longtime teammate of UFC superstar Conor McGregor, Gallagher is off to a blistering start in his professional career. He has finished five of six opponents and helped carry live European Bellator events in Belfast and Dublin.
This weekend will mark his first pro fight ever in the U.S., and in Machida, he'll face a 40-year-old who bears one of the more famous family names in MMA. Gallagher represents the present and future. This is a big spot for him.
7. B.J. Penn (16-11-2) vs. Dennis Siver (22-11), featherweight, UFC
Penn probably shouldn't be fighting anymore, though not necessarily because he's fragile. At age 38, his chin is still relatively intact, but Penn is a legend with nothing left to prove, and this fight doesn't really stand for anything other than just another opportunity for him to compete.
That said, it is the "fairest" fight Penn has been a part of in at least five years. He's not facing a young monster like he did in his last fight, against Yair Rodriguez, nor is he fighting someone who is significantly bigger than him (see Rory MacDonald, 2012).
The intrigue here is maybe a little perverse, but that's the fight game: If Penn is going to fight, and obviously he's committed to doing so, will we finally see him do well? Penn has given us almost nothing but heartbreak since 2011. Siver is a manageable task.
8. Fedor Emelianenko (36-4) vs. Matt Mitrione (11-5), heavyweight, Bellator MMA
Here he is. Emelianenko is back, fighting in the U.S. for the first time since July 2011, when he suffered a knockout loss to Dan Henderson under the Strikeforce banner. At that time, he'd lost three in a row.
Reasons to watch Emelianenko at this point: nostalgia and crazy heavyweight action. That's really it. He doesn't talk. Doesn't share his feelings. Doesn't really let the audience know why he's here or what he hopes to get out of it. The appeal here is, simply, Fedor.
That said, this is probably the only chance we'll get to see this historical MMA figure perform in a building that has housed so many other historical figures in combat sports. This is mostly about the scene. Whatever happens in the fight, happens.
9. Michael Chandler (16-3) vs. Brent Primus (7-0), lightweight championship, Bellator MMA
Of course, this fight would be ranked higher if Chandler, the champion and one of the best 155-pound fighters in the world, were facing tougher opposition for a title defense.
That's nothing against Primus, who has yet to lose as a pro, but Chandler is an extremely lopsided favorite here. At certain locations, Chandler is a greater betting favorite to win this fight than Floyd Mayweather is over Conor McGregor in a boxing match. Just think about that for a second.
What that does is create an expectation for this to be a showcase fight for Chandler, and he has delivered in this situation before.
10. Johny Hendricks (18-6) vs. Tim Boetsch (20-11), middleweight, UFC
Hendricks was once a UFC welterweight champion and a pound-for-pound top 10 candidate, but his career is all but in shambles following a string of flat performances and trouble making weight.
His debut in a new 185-pound weight class went well enough in February, when he defeated Hector Lombard via unanimous decision. This fight probably won't answer how excited we should be about Hendricks' middleweight title chances, but at least we'll see him against a good-sized fighter of the division. Remember, Boetsch used to fight at 205 pounds.