UFC Fight Night 238 post-event facts: Umar Nurmagomedov on the rise in bantamweight books

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 238, which saw Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Muhammad Mokaev and Umar Nurmagomedov make noise.

The UFC opened its March schedule Saturday with UFC Fight Night 238, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The main event saw [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag] (14-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) overcome a slow start to batter [autotag]Shamil Gaziev[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a referee TKO stoppage after the end of the fourth round, putting him back on the winning track.

For more on the numbers behind the card, which featured six finishes in 11 fights – and a couple of them unique – check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 238.

UFC Fight Night 238 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Program total passes $24 million

UFC Fight Night 238 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 238 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $133,500.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC Fight Night 238 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 238 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Shamil Gaziev[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Vitor Petrino[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tyson Pedro[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Muhammad Mokaev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Alex Perez[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Bekzat Almakhan[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Steve Erceg[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Matt Schnell[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Eryk Anders[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Vinicius Oliveira[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Bernardo Sopaj[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Aiemann Zahabi[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Christian Leroy Duncan[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Claudio Ribeiro[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Ludovit Klein[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]A.J. Cunningham[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag]: $4,000

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2381 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $1,362,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,069,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 238.

UFC Fight Night 238 video: Loik Radzhabov knocks out Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady in elongated stoppage

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady appeared to be not all there, but Chris Tognoni needed to see more.

[autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag] entered UFC Fight Night 238 the underdog but exited with a victory over [autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag].

The featherweight fight kicked off Saturday’s card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and turned out to be a fun back-and-forth brawl with a highlight-reel ending. Radzhabov (18-5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) defeated Al-Selwady (15-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with punches and a stoppage at 0:49 of Round 3.

Radzhabov set the tone early with a big flurry in the opening minutes of Round 1. Al-Selwady weathered the storm and found success in Round 2, but it was ultimately Radzhabov who ended the fight early in Round 3.

A big right hand floored Al-Selwady, who then ate a dozen-plus strikes as referee Chris Tognoni looked on.

With the victory, Radzhabov gets back in the win column after a loss to Mateusz Rebecki. On the flip side of the equation, Al-Selwady loses his UFC debut after an impressive Dana White’s Contender Series win over George Hardwick.

The up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 238 results include:

  • Loik Radzhabov def. Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 0:49

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 238.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Jan. 8-14)

There were 35 UFC fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 8-14.

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov joins UFC Saudi Arabia lineup

After an impressive showing on Dana White’s Contender Series, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady’s UFC debut is set.

After an impressive showing on Dana White’s Contender Series, [autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag]’s UFC debut is set.

Al-Selwady (15-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meets [autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag] at a UFC Fight Night event which takes place March 2 at Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Two people with knowledge of the booking recently confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Al-Selwady was a big underdog when he defeated former Cage Warriors champion George Hardwick by unanimous decision to earn a UFC contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 58 in August. The 28-year-old Fortis MMA fighter is on a five-fight winning streak.

Radzhabov (17-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is coming off a stoppage loss to Mateusz Rebecki at UFC on ESPN 5 in June. Before that, the two-time PFL finalist scored back-to-back wins over Zach Zane and formerly unbeaten Esteban Ribovics.

The current UFC Saudi Arabia lineup includes:

  • Mohammad Mokaev vs. Alex Perez
  • Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev
  • Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
  • Joel Alvarez vs. Ludovit Klein
  • Javid Basharat vs. Aiemann Zahabi
  • Yanis Ghemmouri vs. Vinicius Oliveira
  • Brendon Marotte vs. Mohammad Yahya
  • Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov

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Fresh Ink: Meet the 30 fighters the UFC signed in August 2023

Find out who joined the UFC in August and learn more about them here.

The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.

Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, “Dana White’s Contender Series” signees, or rare straight-up additions. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.

“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.

Check out the August 2023 list below.

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady hopes to fulfill big dream of fighting at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady already made one dream a reality by earning a UFC contract. Now he wants to realize another.

[autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag] already made one dream a reality. Now he wants to realize another.

A big underdog against Cage Warriors champion George Hardwick at Dana White’s Contender Series 58 last Tuesday, Al-Selwady (15-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) impressed when he defeated the highly touted Brit by unanimous decision to earn a UFC contract.

It’s been a longtime coming for the 28-year-old Fortis MMA fighter, who never gave up on his UFC hope. Now, Palestine’s Al-Selwady would love to make his octagon debut in front of his home fans in the Middle East by competing at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi.

“If the UFC calls me any day now or any week now for Abu Dhabi, I will take that call,” Al-Selwady told MMA Junkie. “I will accept it because UFC Abu Dhabi is the biggest event of the year. It’s my dream. My dream is to get into the UFC, win my first fight in the UFC, eventually fight at UFC Abu Dhabi. So, if I could get all of those dreams right away, why not? Why would I have to wait until October next year if I could just do it now?”

Al-Selwady, a former BRAVE CF lightweight champion, has competed in various countries in the Middle East such as Jordan, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain.

If he was to get the opportunity to fight in Abu Dhabi for the UFC, “The Pride of Palestine” expects plenty of support.

“I fought in Abu Dhabi before, and I’ve fought in the Middle East in other shows, so just imagine if I fought for the UFC in Abu Dhabi,” Al-Selwady said. “I forgot to mention this to Dana, but I have people that bought their tickets to Abu Dhabi from June. Literally, like they were telling me, ‘Hey, Abdul, no pressure, but I bought my tickets to UFC Abu Dhabi because you’re going to be on that card after you win on the Contender Series and they sign you to the UFC.’

“I was like, ‘Yo, leave me alone, I’m not focused on that right now. I just have to focus on the next fight.’ So, it’s not just one or two friends. I have multiple people that already bought their tickets to Abu Dhabi for those dates. Not that that’s my priority for them, but there’s already a lot of people that believe in me to book their tickets before I even got in. So just imagine now with me being in, what them booking me a fight in Abu Dhabi, if that’s going to happen. I just can’t imagine what kind of support there would be, and I’d love to do that.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.

DWCS 58 winner Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady reflects on long ride to the UFC: ‘I deserved to be here since forever’

After watching numerous teammates get the UFC call, Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady finally got his time to shine.

LAS VEGAS – After watching numerous teammates receive the UFC call, [autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag] finally got his time to shine.

A big underdog against highly touted Cage Warriors champion George Hardwick, Fury FC champ Al-Selwady (15-3) upset the oddsmakers Tuesday with an impressive unanimous decision win to win a UFC contract in the featured bout of Dana White’s Contender Series 58.

The Fortis MMA fighter has helped his teammates prep and even cornered him during their UFC fights, as he patiently waited for his turn. He finally got it, and was handed no layup when he drew Hardwick – but Al-Selwady had other plans.

“It feels great,” Al-Selwady told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight at DWCS 58. “It feels great and as crazy as it sounds, from what I’ve been hearing, all the media hype that I’ve been seeing, that this is the biggest Contender fight, like non-UFC, how could these two be fighting on the Contenders? Right now, I’m just listening to coach’s (Sayif Saud) words, man it’s been such a long ride to get in here. I believed that I deserved to be in here since forever.

“But that doesn’t matter because we’re here today, we’re here now, and I believe that God put me through everything, through the trials, through the losses, through the wins, through the injuries. Everything I went through, the good and the bad, to make this moment count as my moment. The hype, everything. I’m just blessed right now to be a UFC fighter, and I just can’t wait to bring this performance on the biggest stage in the world because now I’m motivated more than ever to get even better and better.”

UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi would be nice for Al-Selwady to make his promotional debut, but “The Pride of Palestine” is just ready to continue riding the momentum he built from an impressive showing at DWCS 58.

“I’ll just be excited to fight and build my way up,” Al-Selwady said. “I want to build a nice name for myself, I want to collect performance bonuses each event because my style I believe is very exciting, and I just want to win in nice, dominant fashion.”

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For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s event hub for Dana White’s Contender Series 58.

Dana White’s Contender Series 58 results: 5-for-5 on contracts for second week in a row

Season 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series continues Tuesday, and MMA Junkie will have live results from on-site at the UFC Apex.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie was on scene and reported live from Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 58 event.

Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with UFC president Dana White on hand to make the decisions.

The second episode of Season 7 saw 10 fighters compete for their shot at a UFC contract. A lightweight contest between George Hardwick (12-1) and Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (14-3) served as the featured bout of the five-bout lineup.

Although there were two decisions, all five winners received UFC contracts from White for the second week in a row.

Full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 58 below:

  • Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady def. George Hardwick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Ibo Aslan def. Paulo Renato Jr. via knockout (punches) –  Round 1, 2:22
  • Hyder Amil def. Emrah Sonmez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
  • Eduarda Moura def. Janaina Silva via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:00
  • Charalampos Grigoriou def. Cameron Smotherman via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:00

Continue reading below for more details about each fight.

Cage Warriors champ George Hardwick to face Fury FC champ Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady on Dana White’s Contender Series

The second week of Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 will feature a Cage Warriors champ vs. Fury FC champ showdown.

The second week of Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 will feature a champion vs. champion battle.

Cage Warriors lightweight champ [autotag]George Hardwick[/autotag] (12-1) meets Fury FC lightweight champ [autotag]Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady[/autotag] (14-3) at Dana White’s Contender Series 58 on Aug. 15. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by MMA Mania.

Winner of his past eight, Hardwick has defended his lightweight title twice, most recently scoring a first-round TKO of Yann Liasse at Cage Warriors 152 in April. The 26-year-old has stopped his past six opponents.

Al-Selwady, a former BRAVE FC lightweight champ, captured the Fury FC 155-pound title in his past outing when he defeated Michael Murphy by unanimous decision in February. The Fortis MMA fighter has won four straight.

With the addition, the DWCS 58 lineup includes:

  • Charalampos Grigoriou vs. Cameron Smotherman
  • Paulo Renato Jr. vs. TBA
  • Hyder Amil vs. Emrah Sonmez
  • Eduarda Moura vs. Janaina Silva
  • Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. George Hardwick