Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from January 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from January 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for January.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
UFC middleweight Abdul Razak Alhassan did not hold back as he went scorched earth on Joaquin Buckley calling for a rematch.
LAS VEGAS – Mention the name [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] around [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag], and rage will likely follow.
At his UFC Fight Night 217 post-fight news conference Saturday, Alhassan (11-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) went on an all-time rant as he unloaded repeated fiery calls for a rematch against Buckley (15-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC), who defeated him by split decision in February 2022.
All sorts of insults were hurled as Alhassan aired his grievances over the span of 11 minutes and particularly took exception with what he perceived as Buckley’s unwillingness to trade punches with him when they fought.
“I want to fight that b*tch-ass Buckley again,” Alhassan told reporters, including MMA Junkie. If anybody sees him, tell him he’s a f*cking b*tch, right? He’s a p*ssy. Can I say that? He’s a f*cking p*ssy, like a big-ass p*ssy. OK, so I know it’s the fight game. But when you talk so much sh*t and you stand in front of another guy and be like, ‘I’m going to knock you the f*ck out,’ we had an agreement. Let’s go in the center of the ring. Let’s f*cking bang and see who the f*ck is going to go down first. That b*tch ass was throwing one punch and is like, ‘Oh, let me take you down.’ You’re a b*tch, Buckley. If you’re watching this, you’re a b*tch. I want to whoop your ass. You’re a f*cking b*tch.”
Abdul Razak Alhassan went *OFF* calling for a rematch with Joaquin Buckley. 😳
"I'll show you the African way. I swear to God."#UFCVegas67 | Full video: https://t.co/6kfRQSOx9m pic.twitter.com/yK5TIxRhlm
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 15, 2023
Alhassan, who was born in Ghana, vowed he’ll show Buckley “the African way” if the two ever cross paths again and explained exactly what that entails.
“The African way is you do not disrespect somebody who is older than you, or your older brother is going to smack the sh*t out of you,” Alhassan said. “Let’s say in Africa my mom or my brother is talking to me and I say some bad word. A stranger can be walking from the side. He doesn’t even know my mom. He doesn’t even know me, and he’ll smack the sh*t out of me just because I’m being disrespectful. If you go to somebody and you talk sh*t, you better be ready to stand there and fight.
“In Africa, your mom will be standing there, and they will make a circle around you and tell you guys to fight until one of you submit. That’s what I’m going to show him. I’m going to show him. You are a b*tch. Every time I hear your name, I get pissed off. You’re a f*cking b*tch. Looking into the camera, you’re a b*tch. Buckley, I hope you see this. I swear to God.”
Alhassan, 37, has won two of his most recent three bouts. Saturday, at UFC Fight Night 217, he knocked out promotional newcomer Claudio Ribeiro in Round 2.
Buckley, 28, is on a two-fight losing skid and does not currently have a fight booked. He is 1-2 since the Alhassan bout.
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Sean Strickland accomplished something only two other men in history have done with his win at UFC Fight Night 217.
The UFC kicked off another busy year of action Saturday with UFC Fight Night 217. It was the first of an expected 42 events from the promotion in 2023, and it went down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Although six fights on the card ended in a stoppage, the main event went the distance as [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) managed to outwork and outpoint [autotag]Nassourdine Imavov[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) to win a unanimous decision on short notice in the light heavyweight headliner.
Fore more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 217.
UFC Fight Night 217 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 217 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $137,000.
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 217 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 217 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Nassourdine Imavov[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Punahele Soriano[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Ketlen Vieira[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Raoni Barcelos[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Claudio Ribeiro[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Mateus Mendonca[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Mateusz Rebecki[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nick Fiore[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Allan Nascimento[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Carlos Hernandez[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Nick Aguirre[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Charles Johnson[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/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 2177 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2171 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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $137,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $14,656,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 217.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 217 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 217 took place Saturday with 11 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex.
You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 217 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
Even after mixing in more wrestling, Abdul Razak Alhassan finished his opponent in a typical violent fashion at UFC Fight Night 217.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] tried to mix things up early with some wrestling, but ultimately, his crushing power led to another early finish.
Alhassan (12-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) took on the debuting Claudio Ribeiro on the prelims of UFC Fight Night 217 in a middleweight bout that promised to produce a violent finish. The bout took place at the UFC Apex and aired on ESPN+.
Ribeiro (10-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) focused on attacking the legs of Alhassan early with hard calf kicks. Alhassan ate a few of them before shooting in for a takedown, leading to a clinch against the cage. After breaking free, Ribeiro went back to the leg kicks and added a crisp right hand straight down the pipe to pop Alhassan’s head back. Another clinch initiated by Alhassan slowed the action, but he was able to sneak in some powerful short strikes before the horn.
Those closing shots set the tone for what would come early in the second.
Ribeiro tried to continue his attacks to the legs, but this time, Alhassan connected with some big punches. Ribeiro was stunned, and Alhassan poured on the pressure to score the knockout from crushing right hands.
Watch video of the finish below (via Twitter):
The power from @JudoRazak is UNSTOPPABLE 💥💥💥 #UFCVegas67 pic.twitter.com/32rZkD9lSB
— UFC (@ufc) January 14, 2023
Even with adding new wrinkles to his game, Alhassan will always have fight-ending power, and put that on full display in the second round against Ribeiro.
After a split decision loss to Joaquin Buckley last February, Alhassan returned to the win column in emphatic fashion. Prior to that setback, he took out Alessio Di Chirico in just 17 seconds with a devastating head kick.
Unfortunately for Ribeiro, his UFC debut did not go as planned as he walks away with the third loss of his pro career. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum earned a contract by knocking out Ivan Valenzuela in just 25 seconds.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 217.
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All the UFC and Bellator 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 or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Nov. 28-Dec. 4.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past two weeks.
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 or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from April 18-May 1.
An exciting middleweight matchup has been added to UFC Fight Night on July 9.
A middleweight matchup that is sure to produce fireworks is heading to an upcoming UFC Fight Night event.
Two powerful middleweights, [autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag] and [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] will face each other on July 9. People with knowledge of the matchup have confirmed the booking MMA Junkie, although the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The event does not yet have a confirmed location or venue. Both 36-year-old fighters will be looking to get back into the win column.
A middleweight bout between Abdul Razak Alhassan (11-5) and Jamie Pickett (13-7) is in the works for the #UFC event July 9, per multiple sources. Story headed to @MMAjunkie.
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) April 27, 2022
Alhassan (11-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) will enter on the heels of a split decision loss to Joaquin Buckley in February. Prior to the close setback, Alhassan picked up a Performance of the Night bonus for his devastating 17-second finish of Alessio Di Chirico at UFC on ESPN 30.
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Pickett (13-7 MMA, 2-3 UFC) will look to get back to .500 during his UFC run with a win over Alhassan. Pickett dropped his previous outing to Kyle Daukaus via buzzer-beating submission. The loss snapped a two-fight win streak over Laureano Staropoli and Joseph Holmes, which are also the Dana White’s Contender Series veteran’s only victories under the UFC banner.
With the addition, the July 9 UFC Fight Night lineup includes:
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Abdul Razak Alhassan had to battle through some adversity before and during his fight with Joaquin Buckley.
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] had to battle through some adversity before and during his fight with [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag].
Alhassan (11-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) lost a split decision to Buckley in the main card opener of this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 201 event, marking his fourth loss in his past five outings.
But Alhassan revealed that an array of unfortunate circumstances and injuries made his training camp difficult, almost forcing him to pull out of the fight. Not only that, but Alhassan says he broke his rib in Round 2 of his fight against Buckley.
“This fight business sucks!! Not to make any excuses or take it away from my opponent this fight camp sucked!!!! Got cut right above my eye right before camp! Had 8 stitches, and the eye got infected so even took way long to heal. Middle of the camp I injured my back and couldn’t even get out of bed through the whole camp! 4 weeks before fight I got COVID which took me outta commission for almost 2 weeks. Week before the fight I injured my right hand before the fight. Light the universe is telling me not to take this fight. But as you know there’s no back down in this guy, so I went for it. And don’t regret it. Also broke a rib in the second round with the take down. But I really wish I could have just done a lil more. Love my coaches and my team!!!! I feel so blessed to have people them like around me. We will come back strong and stack up those victories! Trust me! I swear I will be like kakai to them. They will hear my name and hide!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaOQY8-s_1o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Despite breaking his rib in Round 2, Alhassan was able to impressively win Round 3 on all three judges’ scorecards. But unfortunately for the 36-year-old, it wasn’t enough to win him the fight.
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