MMA Rundown - March 8th: Combate Americas and DEEP JEWELS set up the start of a packed weekend

Hello, again. Are you excited for this weekend’s UFC foray into Kansas? You should be. But you may also be in the mood for something more. And if you’re reading this, well... yeah. You clearly crave a little more action or something to tide you over before the ESPN card.

And you’re in luck, because there’s a lot to look forward to. Canada, Europe, and Asia have a lot of recognizable names or fun up and comers for you to check out. And we’ve got it all right here.

First up we’ve got former K-1 fighter Kultar “Black Mamba“ Gill headlining Mamba Fight Night 6 on Friday. Gill (12-8) will be dealing with hard-nosed veteran Anthony Ruiz (35-23) at middleweight on this card. Kultar is coming off two straight wins in Super Fight League, and the last of them being in late 2012. He’s got wins from way back in the day against Hideo Tokoro and Harris Sarmiento, as well as some fun bouts against Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Ruiz is a sturdy veteran that’s been all over the California scene, competing in Strikeforce, Bellator, Tachi Palace and King of the Cage. He’ll be coming off a loss against Jordan Young at Bellator 210 last November.

Mamba Fight Night 6 will be streaming live and available for purchase for $14.99, exclusively on FITE.tv and starting at 9:00pm EST.

Combate Americas returns to Mexico for a really interesting and well-assembled card, as Combate 23: Mexico vs Spain goes down in Guadalajara. Former UFC fighter Alvaro Herrera (9-6) meets Ignacio Capella (5-1) in a lightweight duel. Former Judo champion Vanessa Rico Fernandez (3-4) plans to rebound from a disappointing loss in her last outing as she welcomes Alitzel Mariscal (1-0)

Absolute savage Erick “Ghost Pepper“ Gonzalez (8-3) fights in Mexico for the first time to take on Entram Gym rep and submission hunter Alejandro Martinez (4-2) Team Lobo’s Victor Hugo Madrigal (7-2) has trained alongside star pupils Alexa Grasso and Irene Aldana, but he’s going to have a lot on his plate against Certified Finisher Zebenzui Ruiz (7-2).

Combate 32: Mexico vs Spain takes place Friday night, streaming live on DAZN starting at 10:00pm.

Koruaken Hall hosts DEEP JEWELS 23, and it looks great. Standout wrestler Kanna Asakura (13-3) bit a little more than she could chew in her bid for the RIZIN championship against Ayaka Hamasaki, but she gets a chance to bump back into the win column against Tomo Maesawa (12-8). Maesawa has wins over Emi Tomimatsu, AACC’s Yuko Oya (also on this card) and Mina Kurobe.

Since we’ve already mentioned Tomimatsu (13-14), she’s on this card as well against Hikaru Aono (3-1), and Kana Watanabe (5-0, 1 draw) aims to remain undefeated as she curiously faces Soo Min Kang, who makes her pro debut after going 1-1 on the Korean amateur scene. Reina Miura took a rough loss against Kaitlin Young last year, but got a confidence booster with a win over Germany’s Judith Ruis in December at JEWELS 22. Her opponent Mao Ueda is also making her pro debut (??), so... that’s a thing, I guess.

Krazy Bee’s Ai Shimizu (2-1) loves to punish opponents, and will get a shot at doing that again versus Sae Kokuho (pro debut), while 51-year-old Yasuko Tamada won’t let age slow her down when she reps AACC against Madoka Ishibashi (1-3), in what will be Tamada’s first fight since 2015.

DEEP JEWELS 23 takes place Friday night for those of us stateside, starting at 10:30pm. The internet is your friend on this one.