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

Jose Aldo has at least a few more lines of the story left to write.

The former World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder will come out of retirement to meet Jonathan Martinez in the UFC 301 bantamweight co-main event on May 4 at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro. A true all-time great by any reputable measure, Aldo re-enters the Octagon with one of the sport’s most distinguished resumes in his back pocket. He has beaten Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar (twice), Urijah Faber, Kenny Florian, Chan Sung Jung, Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font across a remarkable career that spans nearly two decades. Aldo, now 37, last suited up as a mixed martial artist in August 2022, losing a three-round unanimous decision to top contender Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278. The Nova Uniao cornerstone owns 17 knockouts among his 31 professional victories, 11 of them inside one round. Martinez, meanwhile, has rattled off six consecutive victories and emerged as a person of interest at 135 pounds. The 30-year-old Factory X rep last competed at UFC Fight Night 230, where he cut down Adrian Yanez with a leg kick in the second round of their Oct. 14 pairing. Martinez sports a 10-3 record in the UFC.

The Aldo-Martinez showdown is but one can’t-miss fight in May. Here are nine more:

Akbar Abdullaev vs. Halil Amir
ONE on Prime Video 22
May 3 | Bangkok, Thailand
Undefeated prospects lock horns with valuable momentum at stake in the ONE Championship featherweight division. Abdullaev, 26, has finished all 10 of his opponents, nine of them inside one round. The Al Munar Team and Tiger Muay Thai product last fought at ONE on Prime Video 12, where he wiped out Aaron Canarte with a spinning back kick and follow-up punches just 41 seconds into their July 14 confrontation. It was Abdullaev’s third straight sub-minute stoppage. On the other side of the equation, Hamir has secured nine of his 10 pro victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. The 29-year-old Turk brushed aside Ahmed Mujtaba with first-round punches in his most recent outing at ONE On Prime Video 16 in November.

Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg
UFC 301
May 4 | Rio de Janeiro
Pantoja likes to stay busy. The Brazilian puts his undisputed flyweight crown on the line for the second time in a little more than four months when he meets the surging Erceg in his first assignment as a pay-per-view headliner. Pantoja, 34, has pieced together a five-fight winning streak during his rise to the top of the 125-pound weight class. “The Cannibal” retained his title in December, when he laid claim to a five-round unanimous decision over Brandon Royval in their UFC 296 rematch. Erceg, meanwhile, finds himself on a run of 11 consecutive victories. The 28-year-old Aussie emerged as an unlikely No. 1 contender at UFC Fight Night 238, where he punched out Matt Schnell in the second round of their March 2 encounter. A former Eternal MMA champion, Erceg trains out of Wilkes MMA in Perth, Australia—some 8,500 miles from where he challenges Pantoja.

Losene Keita vs. Agy Sardari
Oktagon MMA 57
May 4 | Frankfurt, Germany
Keita could soon graduate from the European regional scene. The Guinean prospect looks to improve upon his 12-1 record when he toes the line against Sardari in the first round of Oktagon MMA’s Tipsport Gamechanger Lightweight Tournament. Keita endured his first career setback in July, though it resulted from a freak leg injury suffered just 68 seconds into an ill-fated altercation with Mate Sanikidze. “Black Panther” returned four months later at Oktagon 50 and did not skip a beat, as he rebounded with a second-round knockout of Niko Samsonidse and reaffirmed himself as a blue-chip talent at 155 pounds. A former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder, Sardari enters the cage on the strength of back-to-back victories over Samuel Blasco and Osman Minbatirov. The 30-year-old Dutchman has never been stopped by strikes in 21 professional appearances.

Robelis Despaigne vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
UFC on ESPN 56
May 11 | St. Louis
Despaigne’s resume offers its own advice: Do not blink. A bronze medalist in taekwondo for his native Cuba at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the monstrous 35-year-old heavyweight has stopped all five of his opponents inside one round, four of them in less than a minute. Despaigne, who stands 6-foot-7 and features a seven-foot wingspan, was sensational in his March 9 promotional debut at UFC 299, where he needed all of 18 seconds to dismantle Josh Parisian with punches. Whether or not he possesses staying power at the highest level remains to be seen. Cortes-Acosta, meanwhile, bounced back from his April 2023 decision defeat to Marcos Rogerio de Lima with consecutive victories over Lukasz Brzeski and Andrei Arlovski. The onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance champion has compiled a 4-1 mark across his five outings in the UFC.

Adrian Bartosinski vs. Andrzej Grzebyk
KSW 94
May 11 | Gdansk, Poland
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki’s welterweight championship rests in Bartosinski’s capable hands. The undefeated 28-year-old Octopus Lodz representative answers his latest challenge when he battles Grzebyk at Ergo Arena in an attempt to further bolster his credentials as one of Europe’s most sought-after talents. Bartosinski improved to 14-0 and retained his 170-pound championship in December, when he earned a five-round unanimous decision over the heralded Salahdine Parnasse at KSW 89. “Bartos” has registered 12 finishes among his 14 career wins, seven of them in the first round. Grzebyk, 33, was a two-division titleholder in the Fight Exclusive Night organization prior to his arrival in KSW. Consecutive victories over Oton Jasse, Brian Hooi and Madars Bertholds-Fleminas moved him into position to vie for Bartosinski’s throne.

Ivan Shtyrkov vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov
Russian Cagefighting Championship 19
May 11 | Yekaterinburg, Russia
Shtyrkov, at 22-2-1, awaits one of his most difficult tests to date when he returns from a 525-day kickboxing sabbatical and gets back to business under the Russian Cagefighting Championship flag. The hulking Russian light heavyweight finds himself on a five-fight winning streak—his longest run of unchecked success since he started his career a perfect 13-0. The 35-year-old last strapped on the MMA gloves on Dec. 3, 2022, when he was awarded a unanimous decision over Asylzhan Bakhytzhanuly. Past victories over Thiago Silva, Fabio Maldonado, Satoshi Ishii, Philip De Fries, Antonio Silva, Ricco Rodriguez and Jeff Monson bolster his resume. Antigulov, meanwhile, went 2-5 during an extended but ultimately disappointing stay in the UFC. The American Top Team product has also plied his trade in M-1 Global and Absolute Championship Berkut, where he held the light heavyweight title from June 22, 2014 to May 6, 2016.

Patrick Mix vs. Magomed Magomedov
Bellator Champions Series Paris
May 17 | Paris
Widely regarded as the top bantamweight operating outside the auspices of the UFC, Mix risks his 135-pound championship in his first appearance since Bellator MMA was acquired by the Professional Fighters League. The Xtreme Couture ace has won six fights in a row and unified the bantamweight crown at Bellator 301, where he forced Sergio Pettis’ surrender with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Nov. 17 clash. Thirteen of Mix’s 19 career victories have resulted in submissions, including a guillotine choke finish of Magomedov in 2022. The rematch provides the Russian with his opportunity at some payback. Magomedov, 32, has alternated wins and losses in each of his past four outings. He improved to 20-3 when he throttled Danny Sabatello in a little less than four minutes at a Bellator-Rizin Fighting Federation co-promotion in July.

Edson Barboza vs. Lerone Murphy
UFC Fight Night 241
May 18 | Las Vegas
Likely in the latter stages of his outstanding career, Barboza serves as one of the UFC’s most ferocious and formidable gatekeepers. The former Ring of Combat champion looks to block the unbeaten Murphy’s path to the featherweight elite when he draws headlining duties at the UFC Apex. Barboza flexed his resolve in his most recent assignment, as he rallied from an inauspicious start—he absorbed 84 significant strikes across the first 10 minutes—and outpointed Sodiq Yusuff to a five-round unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 230 main event on Oct. 14. The Brazilian’s 29 appearances inside the Octagon tie him 14th on the UFC’s all-time list. Murphy, meanwhile, remains a largely overlooked piece of the featherweight puzzle despite his 13-0-1 record. The Manchester Top Team export has put up five straight wins since his split draw with Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 242 in 2019.

Harry Hardwick vs. Zafar Mohsen
Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 172
May 25 | Newcastle, England
The fate of the vacant Cage Warriors featherweight championship hangs in the balance when the surging Hardwick sets his sights on Mohsen at Vertu Motors Arena. Recent PFL signee Paul Hughes left the throne empty in October, electing to pursue opportunities at 155 pounds. Undefeated—a majority draw with Federico Pasquali stands as the lone blemish—across six outings since his unanimous decision loss to Richie Smullen under the Bellator banner in 2020, Hardwick completed his climb to contention at Cage Warriors 157, where he put Vitor Estevam de Mello Souza to sleep with a second-round rear-naked choke on July 21. On the other side of the ledger, Mohsen has strung together three consecutive victories, all of them finishes, ahead of his organizational debut. The 29-year-old German last competed at a National Fighting Championship show on Feb. 3, when he took care of Bektur Seyitali Uulu with a guillotine choke in a shade under half a round.