Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken 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 Feb. 7-13.
Yoel Romero lost his Bellator debut – but was still compensated the highest amount of anyone on the card.
Bellator 266 is in the books and although [autotag]Phil Davis[/autotag] was the victorious half of the main event, he didn’t receive the highest disclosed payout according to the event’s commissioning body.
While Davis (23-6 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) pocketed a $100,000 flat salary for his three-round split decision, his opponent [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) earned $150,000 in defeat. The fight was Romero’s promotional debut with Bellator and his first bout since his UFC departure in 2020.
MMA Junkie acquired a full list of Bellator 266 payouts Wednesday from California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster. The amounts include win and show purses, but do not account for any discretionary bonuses.
Bellator 266 took place Saturday at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card aired on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
Check out the full list of Bellator 266 payouts below:
The lineup for Bellator return to its Northern California home base is set with the addition of four new fights on the preliminary card.
The lineup for next week’s Bellator return to its Northern California home base is set with the addition of four new fights on the preliminary card.
[autotag]Rhalan Gracie[/autotag] (0-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will return to MMA for the first time since 2007 when he takes on [autotag]Shane Keefe[/autotag] (1-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at welterweight.
Plus, [autotag]Eddie Abasolo[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Art Hernandez[/autotag] (4-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a 160-pound contract weight fight; [autotag]Edwin De Los Santos[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Jon Adams[/autotag] (0-1-1 MMA, 0-1-1 BMMA) at flyweight; and [autotag]Jesse Delgado[/autotag] (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) fights [autotag]Joshua Dillon[/autotag] (1-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a 130-pound contract weight bout.
Bellator 266 takes place Sept. 18 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie. The card will be Bellator’s first in San Jose in more than two years.
In the main event, [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (13-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) finally will make his Bellator debut when he takes on former light heavyweight champion [autotag]Phil Davis[/autotag] (22-6 MMA, 9-3 BMMA).
Romero signed with Bellator in December 2020 after a seven-year run with the UFC. He was booked to make his promotional debut against Anthony Johnson to open the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix in May, but was forced to withdraw because of concerns over his eye following a pre-fight medical exam.
Romero, 44, hasn’t fought since March 2020 when he dropped a unanimous decision to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 248, which marked his third consecutive loss. His other two defeats in the skid came against Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. Romero hasn’t won since a February 2018 knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.
Davis is coming off an April unanimous decision loss to champion Vadim Nemkov in the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix, which snapped a three-fight winning streak.
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The Bellator 266 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET, Showtime)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 7 p.m. ET)
Check out all the facts and figures from Bellator 260, which took place Friday in Uncasville, Conn.
The promotion’s second title change of the year unfolded Friday in the Bellator 260 headliner at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
[autotag]Yaroslav Amosov[/autotag] (26-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) became the new king of the welterweight division when he shut down [autotag]Douglas Lima[/autotag] (32-9 MMA, 14-5 BMMA) for five rounds to claim the gold by unanimous decision and join the short list of fighters to get their hands on a belt without ever experiencing a loss.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for 30 post-event facts to come out of Bellator 260.
Alex Polizzi spoke with the media ahead of Bellator 251 in Uncasville, Conn.
Alex Polizzi spoke with the media ahead of Bellator 251 in Uncasville, Conn.
The first half of Bellator’s back-to-back Connecticut shows in September has had its lineup filled out.
Bellator 245 fills out, including Ed Ruth, Rafael Carvalho, Tyrell Fortune
The first half of Bellator’s back-to-back Connecticut shows in September has had its lineup filled out.
Bellator 245, which will be headlined by a light heavyweight rematch between Phil Davis and Lyoto Machida with Cat Zingano vs. Gabrielle Holloway in the co-main event, has five new bouts ticketed for the lineup, the promotion announced Friday.
Bellator 245 takes place Friday, Sept. 11, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie. The next night, the same venue hosts Bellator 246.
On the main card, [autotag]Ed Ruth[/autotag] (8-2 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Taylor Johnson[/autotag] (5-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at middleweight, and [autotag]Raymond Daniels[/autotag] (2-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Peter Stanonik[/autotag] (5-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a welterweight bout.
Additionally, the preliminary card gets a light heavyweight bout between former middleweight champion [autotag]Rafael Carvalho[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 7-3 BMMA) and LFA light heavyweight champ [autotag]Alex Polizzi[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), [autotag]Tyrell Fortune[/autotag] (8-1 MMA, 8-1 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Jack May[/autotag] (11-6 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) at heavyweight, and [autotag]Keith Lee[/autotag] (6-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Dominic Mazzotta[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) in a 140-pound contract-weight fight.
Ruth will be looking to rebound from a decision loss to Yaroslav Amosov in February, which snapped a two-fight winning streak. Johnson suffered the first loss of his pro career a little more than a year ago in a Dana White’s Contender Series fight against Andre Muniz. Prior to that, he had four straight first-round knockout wins under the LFA banner.
Kickboxing standout Daniels returned to MMA in 2019 after a lengthy layoff from the sport. He took out Wilker Barros in the first round in his Bellator MMA debut after years on the Bellator Kickboxing circuit. Then earlier this year, he stopped Jason King in the first round with a TKO. Stanonik has a kickboxing and muay Thai background, as well, but his most recent MMA fight was a June 2018 loss to Jake Heffernan at LFA 43.
With the additions, the Bellator 245 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Paramount, DAZN, 10 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie)
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from February 2020.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from February 2020: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Submission of the Month” award for February.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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Daniel Rodriguez def. Tim Means at UFC on ESPN+ 25
[autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) rose to the occasion in his UFC debut, taking out Tim Means (29-12-1 MMA, 11-9 UFC), a 21-fight veteran of the organization, in the second round of their welterweight bout.
After battering Means on the feet and putting him in serious danger of a knockout, Rodriguez changed his attack to a standing guillotine choke. It went in deep, and shortly thereafter Means tapped and the fight was over.
Alex Polizzi def. Jamal Pogues at LFA 82
[autotag]Alex Polizzi[/autotag] (6-0) scored his ticket to a Bellator contract by claiming the LFA light heavyweight title with a submission finish of Jamal Pogues (7-3) in the championship rounds.
Although submissions decrease in likelihood later into fights, Polizzi snatched the leg of Pogues in the early stages of the fourth round and locked in a heel hook. Pogues tapped out, and Polizzi remained undefeated in his young career.
We've seen it all tonight at #LFA82! Congrats to Alex Polizzi on an impressive win! pic.twitter.com/8E9EoyQNt3
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 22, 2020
Georgi Karakhanyan def. Paul Redmond at Bellator Europe 7
In his return to the lightweight division, [autotag]Georgi Karakhanyan[/autotag] (29-10-1 MMA, 7-8 BMMA) picked up a much-needed win against Paul Redmond (15-9 MMA, 2-1 BMMA).
After going on a three-fight drought, Karakhanyan had an entertaining battle with Redmond before locking in a guillotine choke in the early stages of the round to finish the fight and get his hand raised for the first time in 21 months.
Jimmy Crute def. Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC on ESPN+ 26
[autotag]Jimmy Crute[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) rebounded from the first loss of his career with an impressive finish of Michal Oleksiejczuk (14-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in their light heavyweight matchup.
Crute put his sizable ground advantage to use when he put Oleksiejczuk on his back and synched in a Kimura to elicit the tap in just over three minutes.
Jordan Griffin def. TJ Brown via guillotine choke at UFC on ESPN+ 27
Just when it seemed he was not going to get the finish, [autotag]Jordan Griffin[/autotag] (18-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) choked TJ Brown (14-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) out cold.
Attempting to lock in a guillotine choke from bottom position, Griffin’s attempt to finish the fight appeared that it would be unfruitful. Seconds later, though, the fight was over and Griffin had his first UFC win.
"If you're extremely strong, maybe you can get it, but I doubt it."
Turns out, @JordanGriffin29 is EXTREMELY strong. 💪 #UFCNorfolk pic.twitter.com/acYqC1qu9L
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 29, 2020
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Griffin’s first UFC win was an impressive one.
After going 0-2 with two unanimous decision losses to kick off his octagon tenure, Griffin needed to get his hand raised in order to ensure his future with the organization.
He did just that, and in slick fashion, no less.
Griffin went for a usual guillotine choke while on bottom, which cageside commentator Michael Bisping wrote off as having any real chance of finishing the fight. He was wrong, however, because Griffin was able to finish the fight with a useful technique.
“I love that choke – that’s one of my go-to submissions,” Griffin said. “When you hook that in over the shoulder, it’s almost impossible to escape. People think they can circle around because their legs are free, but that actually makes it tighter. As soon as I locked it in, I knew it was over and that he was out. That’s my black belt killer right there.”
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Fresh off of his LFA 82 title-clinching victory, Alex Polizzi has added his name to the ranks of Bellator.
Recently-crowned LFA light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Polizzi[/autotag] is heading to Bellator.
Two weeks ago, the LFA title was wrapped around Polizzi’s waist for the first time when he submitted Dana White’s Contender Series alumnus Jamal Pogues with a fourth-round heel hook.
It didn’t take long for Bellator to come knocking, and the promotion soon after signed Polizzi (6-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) to a “long-term contract,” a promotion official told MMA Junkie.
Born and raised in Wisconsin, Polizzi wrestled at Northwestern University After college, he mostly has competed on the Midwest regional scene en route to his title shot in late February. He’s never gone the distance, picking up three TKOs and three submission victories under his belt. All of this was accomplished in his first 18 months as a professional.
“In the fights I’ve had, I’m not afraid to expand outside of what’s orthodox within MMA, within the wrestling, within the muay Thai, within the boxing,” Polizzi told MMA Junkie in January. “I’m not afraid to step outside those skillsets and do some unconventional moves. I’ll do unconventional attacks. I’m just hoping people can enjoy watching me do what I do. I’m always having fun out there and I just hope the people watching are having half the fun. That’s what makes it all worth it.”
Polizzi was featured as one of MMA Junkie’s five “On the Doorstep” fighters in January 2020.
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For those who make it to the highest stage, the journey starts long before they strap on UFC or Bellator gloves.
Every champion in MMA history started out somewhere.
For those who make it to the highest stage, the journey starts long before they strap on UFC or Bellator gloves. Modern-era fighters progress through the regional ranks with hopes of accomplishing the highest accolades. Many will try, but few will succeed.
This November, five fighters on the verge of achieving major-promotion notoriety return to the cage for what could be their stepping stone fights. There are dozens of fighters inches away from making the jump in the coming weeks, but these five are particularly exemplary.
This month:
