*For Immediate Release to Publish
Roselle, Park, NJ (January 10th, 2026)– Welcome to the Real Combat Media Boxing & MMA Fights of the Week, where we discuss the week’s most significant news and the most notable fights in the sports of boxing and MMA, so you can save time by getting your best combat sports news expeditiously.
In boxing news, this past weekend was an important night for women’s boxing, where 2 fights were contested at 10 rounds with 3-minute rounds. Amanda Serrano, 37, (48-4-1, 31 Kos), won a dominant unanimous decision where she outpointed a tough Reina Tellez, 22, (13-1-1, 5 Kos), on January 3, 2026, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on DAZN. Two judges scored the fight 97-93, while the third judge had it 98-92. Tellez has a lot of potential and could still win a world title in the future, and took this fight on short notice.
The co-main event was disappointing as El Paso police officer Stephanie Han (12-0, 3 Kos) defeated former world champion Holly Holm, 44, (33-2-3 9 Kos), in a WBA lightweight title bout by technical unanimous decision after the fight was stopped in the seventh round due to a cut on Han’s forehead from an accidental clash of heads. The judges’ scorecards were 69-65, 69-64, and 68-65, all in favor of Han. Holm has issues where she was getting countered all night by Han and was not making the adjustments needed to win. Holly Holm is interested in doing a rematch since the fight was stopped too soon. You can read the recap, full card of the event, and video highlights here.
The driver of the Anthony Joshua car accident in Nigeria that killed 2 of Joshua’s teammates will face charges for driving at a high rate of speed before the car lost control. Many reports this week saying Anthony Joshua had retired were just clickbait spread around by the boxing media. No official announcement has been made about any retirement from Team Joshua or Matchroom Promotions. At Real Combat Media, we always try to do our best to confirm the news to maintain our credibility among our readership.
Naoya Inoue’s next major fight is being targeted for May 2, 2026, at the Tokyo Dome against undefeated WBC/IBF/The Ring Bantamweight Champion Junto Nakatani. No official confirmation yet on this bout.
Jake Paul, who was in the top 15 at Cruiserweight, was removed from the WBA rankings this week after he was defeated by Anthony Joshua.
An illness forces Paddy Donovan to withdraw from the IBF Welterweight World Eliminator on January 16 versus Liam Paro in Australia. You can read about this announcement here.
Tyson Fury, 37, (34-2-1, 24 Kos) is planning a boxing comeback in 2026 and started training this week. Some of his potential opponents include Anthony Joshua, Fabio Wardley, Oleksandr Usyk (for a trilogy), Arslanbek Makhmudov, and Agit Kabayel. He may also take a light tune-up fight first before facing any of the top heavyweights in the world.
The major fight of the week is power punching Sabriel Matías, 33, (23-2, 22 Kos) defending his WBC Super Lightweight title against the undefeated Dalton Smith (18-0, 13 Kos) this Saturday, January 10, 2026, on PPV.COM. Subriel Matías failed a drug test with a supplement called Ostarine, which improves endurance, in November 2025, but the result was later overturned by the WBC after an investigation concluded it was likely due to contaminated supplements. However, our opinion at RCM is that they are letting this fight go on to collect the revenue and save the card. Matias is a very popular fighter among his Puerto Rican fanbase. You can view the preview, presser, betting odds, and weigh-in here.
The other major fight is an important fight for the heavyweight division, where German Agit Kabayel, 33, (26-0, 18 Kos), will fight Poland’s Damian Knyba, 29, (17-0, 11 Kos), which takes place at the Rudolf Weber Arena, Oberhausen, Germany. If Agit looks good in this fight, he will be in a position to fight for the real world title. This fight is for the WBC Interim Title. This fight will be streamed on DAZN. Click here to see this fight. You can view the weigh-in, press conference, and betting odds here.
The Real Combat Media Boxing Awards took place this week for 2025. You can see who won each award here.
You can view the current international boxing rankings here.
In MMA news, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, who fought each other twice in one of the most heated rivalries in UFC history, are coaching against each other in the third season of the Russian reality series ALF Reality, a show similar to The Ultimate Fighter. Cormier is interested in facing Jones in a Freestyle wrestling match after the show is completed. Jon Jones stated he is interested in starting a friendship with Cormier after years of being bitter enemies. Cormier is not interested in being friends with Jones.
PFL MMA announced its PFL Road to Dubai card for February 7th. You can check out all the matchups here.
The UFC has officially launched its archive library on Paramount+, signaling the start of its new primary streaming partnership in 2026. You can sign up below.
Dana White confirmed that Arman Tsarukyan was passed over for an interim title shot in favor of Paddy Pimblett, citing a backstage headbutting incident with Dan Hooker as a key factor.
UFC 324 returns on Saturday, January 24, 2026, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with a loaded card, marking the UFC’s debut on Paramount+ for numbered events, headlined by Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the Interim Lightweight Title and a massive co-main event with Amanda Nunes challenging Kayla Harrison for the Women’s Bantamweight Championship. The rest of the card will feature other stars like Sean O’Malley and Derrick Lewis. There will be no UFC events for the next 3 weeks to prepare for the new network deal. You can sign up for Paramount+ here.
Here are a few fight announcements that will take place after UFC 324…
UFC 325: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2 on January 31, 2026, in Sydney, Australia, for the featherweight title.
UFC Fight Night Houston: Strickland vs. Hernandez on February 21, 2026, in Houston, TX, which was officially announced as the headliner this week.
UFC Fight Night Mexico: Moreno vs. Almabayev on February 28, 2026, in Mexico City, Mexico.
UFC 326: Holloway vs. Oliveira 2 on March 7, 2026, in Las Vegas, NV, for the “Baddest Motherf*r” title.
For PFL start times, more information, and to watch PFL events, click here.
To view the current UFC rankings, click here.
Get prepared for the UFC in 2026 and sign up to Paramount+ here.
For the most current news from the #2 MMA Promotion PFL, click here.
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