Siler, O'Connell fight for the big money on New Year's Eve

Just a reminder that the Professional Fighters League tournament finals is in New York City, Monday night, New Year's Eve, aired twice on the NBCSports Network (34 Xfinity), live at 5 pm and repeated at 9 p.m. As we have noted, two Utah MMA pro veterans, Steven Siler and Sean O'Connell, are in the finals.  O'Connell fights Vinny Magalhaes in the 205-pound tourney final and Siler fights Lance Palmer in the featherweight (145 pounds) final. The entire card, featuring six finals, is here.

If Siler and O'Connell win Monday night, they earn a $1 million winner's purse. We salute our two Utahns who have worked to gain this opportunity.

MUNOZ TO MAKE PRO DEBUT

Remember, SteelFist has an MMA card on Saturday, January 5th. Here's an earlier preview. One late addition to the card is Weber County's Eric Munoz, who after an amateir career will be making his pro debut against Andy Witt. It's a heavyweight bout. The main bout features 170 pounders Joe Rodriguez and Hank Weiss. Card is here. It's at the Union Event Center, 235 N. 500 West, in Salt Lake City. Doors open at 6 p.m. Here's our advance story. (Above, Munoz at right seen after a win)

SteelFist kicks off new year with MMA card; pro boxing results

Two veteran professional MMA light-heavyweights will headline SteelFist MMA's first card of 2019 on Saturday, Jan. 25, at The Union Event Center, 235 North, 500 West, in Salt Lake City.

Joe Rodriguez, 7-5, who has logged wins over Damarques Johnson, Eti Palu, and Eric Wahlen, takes on 50-plus fight veteran Hank Weiss, 31-20, who in a long career has notched wins over Jarome Hatch, Sean O'Connell, Mike Crisman, Josh Burkman and Nick Rossborough, among others. Both fighters are 41 years old.

The entire scheduled card is here. A pro women's MMA bout matches Kaytlin Neil versus Andrea Miller and professionals Jared Toothaker and Andy Witt meet as well. Amateur bouts include Thomas Prestriedge and Augustin Valdez competing for a SteelFist title belt and Alonzo Salas meeting Aldyn Ashcraft. Doors open at 6 p.m. in this card for all ages.

Professional boxing results

On Nov. 30 in Salt Lake City local pro boxer Ignacio Chairez remained undefeated with a unanimous decision win over previously undefeated Anthony Curtiss. Chairez is 6-0-1 in his pro career.You can see all results here. Eric Wahlen, also an MMA pro, also won on the card, remaining undefeated as a professional boxer.

On Dec. 6, Salt Lake City professional boxer Christian Aguirre, 8-4 as a pro, traveled to Costa Mesa, Calif. to meet undefeated, former amateur star Andreas Katzourakis. Aguirre was dropped in round one but survived, and fought competitively against his larger opponent through rounds 2 and 3, although Katzourakis kept an edge with strong body shots.

Midway through round, the referee inexplicably stopped the bout, awarding Katzourakis a TKO victory. It deprived the usually resilient Aguirre of an opportunity to rally and perhaps grab a win, something he has done more than once. Results from the entire card can be found here.