Tag: Andrei Arlovski

Andrei Arlovski books 42nd UFC fight, faces Martin Buday in Las Vegas

Second-place in all-time UFC appearances, Andrei Arlovski continues to nip at Jim Miller’s heels.

All-time UFC appearance leader Jim Miller returns Saturday at UFC 300, but the man in second place continues to nip at his heels.

Former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag] has booked his 42nd UFC fight, one behind Miller’s 43 (soon to be 44), as he’ll face [autotag]Martin Buday[/autotag] on June 15 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

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

Arlovski (34-23 MMA, 23-17 UFC) recently turned 45 years old. He made his promotional debut in November 2000 – at UFC 28, when he defeated Aaron Brink. Arlovski is 6-4 in his most recent 10 outings, but is on a four-fight skid.

Buday (13-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) looks to bounce back from his first promotional defeat, a TKO loss to Shamil Gaziev at UFC 296 in December. The loss snapped a 12-fight winning streak that included UFC victories over Chris Barnett, Lukasz Brzeski, Jake Collier, and Josh Parisian.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for June 15 includes:

  • Andrei Arlovski vs. Martin Buday
  • Ikram Aliskerov vs. Andre Muniz
  • Jimmy Flick vs. Nate Maness
  • Adam Fugitt vs. Josh Quinlan
  • Gabriella Fernandes vs. Carli Judice
  • Josefine Knutsson vs. Julia Polastri
  • Garrett Armfield vs. Brady Hiestand

UFC Fight Night 234 post-event facts: Jim Miller adds more records to epic resume

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 234, which saw Jim Miller grow his all-time wins record and add more history to his resume.

The UFC returned from its holiday hiatus on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and although it wasn’t the most stacked lineup, UFC Fight Night 234 delivered seven stoppage results out of 11 bouts.

In the main event, Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) produced definitive closure on his rivalry with Johnny Walker (21-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC), scoring a second-round knockout in their light heavyweight rematch to potentially set himself up for a championship opportunity.

For 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 234.

UFC Fight Night 234 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Jim Miller, Andrei Arlovski get max non-title payouts

UFC Fight Night 234 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 234 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $159,500.

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 234 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 234 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

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[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Gabriel Benitez[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Brunno Ferreira[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Phil Hawes[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Preston Parsons[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Matthew Semelsberger[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gaston Bolanos[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jean Silva[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Westin Wilson[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tom Nolan[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Felipe Bunes[/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 2341 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:

  • “UFC Fight Night 234: Ankalaev vs. Walker 2” – $159,500

Year-to-date total: $159,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $22,866,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta reflects on surreal matchup vs. former UFC champ Andrei Arlovski

Waldo Cortes-Acosta finds it wild he’s fighting Andrei Arlovski in 2024.

[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] never thought he would be fighting [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag]. Yet, here he is just days away from facing the living legend.

It’s a surreal matchup for Cortes-Acosta (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who has been watching Arlovski (34-22 MMA, 23-16 UFC) fight since he was a teenager. Cortes-Acosta, now 32, feels proud of how far he’s come in MMA now that he’s fighting a former UFC champion at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 234 in Las Vegas.

“When I started MMA, I never thought I would be fighting him,” Cortes-Acosta told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “I thought maybe I would fight other fighters like maybe if I got really, really good, and I would get to fight Jon Jones. But fighting Andrei Arlovski, I never thought about it. I began fighting around 2014, 2015, and I thought in a few years he would be retired, but no. He’s kept going, and now we’re in 2024, and he’s still at it.”

When Arlovski made his professional debut in MMA, Cortes-Acosta was just seven years old and hoping to become a professional baseball player in the Dominican Republic. When Arlovski first became UFC champion, Cortes-Acosta was 12.

Never in a million years did Cortes-Acosta think he would be fighting Arlovski, who’s now 44. He remembers the first time he saw Arlovski fight.

“Imagine, I got a flashback when I was playing baseball in the academy,” Cortes-Acosta said. “I remember one day, all my friends were gathered at the T.V. and they called me over, ‘Hey, come look!’ When I go over, I see this monster fighting in the octagon. I was like, ‘Wow, they’re allowed to go after each other like that?’ I’m talking about when I was 14 or 15 years old, and look at me now.

“I remembered that moment when I got the fight. I feel very proud of myself to be where I’m at and to be fighting him.”

Although Cortes-Acosta respects Arlovski, all that will go out the window the moment they get locked in the cage. He won’t let his admiration for Arlovski stop him from getting his hand raised.

“The psychological and respect fight, all that is thrown out,” Cortes-Acosta said. “In the cage, I have respect for no one. If you’re putting on the gloves to fight me, there’s no respect. Even my own dad, I don’t give him any respect if we were to fight in the octagon. It’s another world in there.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.

UFC Fight Night 234 pre-event facts: Jim Miller, Andrei Arlovski look to build on all-time wins leads

The best facts about UFC Fight Night 234, which features chances for Jim Miller and Andrei Arlovski to add to their historic resumes.

After a nearly monthlong hiatus, the UFC opens its 2024 schedule on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 234, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+.

Light heavyweight contenders are set to rematch in the main event of the card. [autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag] (18-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) and [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag] (21-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) will run it back with five rounds scheduled after their originally meeting at UFC 294 in October ended in a no contest due to an illegal knee from Ankalaev that halted the action.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts for UFC Fight Night 234.

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Spinning Back Clique replay: Bold predictions for 2024, Sean O’Malley’s lofty goal, Ngannou the boxer, more

On SBC LIVE, our panel talks shop about Francis Ngannou, Sean O’Malley, 2024 predictions and more.

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week’s panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

  • [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag], rather than return to MMA for his next fight, has signed on to box against Anthony Joshua in March in Saudi Arabia. On the heels of his impressive boxing debut against Tyson Fury, is this Ngannou’s best move? It may be financially, but what will be the implications of staying out of MMA even longer? And does he have a shot against Joshua?
  • Don’t let it be said UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] isn’t ambitious. He said he wants to finish this calendar year as not only the biggest name in MMA, not only the biggest in combat sports – but the biggest in all of sports, period. He said it. We’ll lay out a path for him to become a bigger name than someone like Conor McGregor, for starters, and then we’ll see if there’s a way he can surpass Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Neymar, Stephen Curry, Tiger Woods … you get the point. So what do we make of such a lofty goal, particularly one with such a short clock to make it the prediction come true?
  • Middleweight has been one of the UFC’s most interesting divisions over the past few years, without question. That doesn’t seem like it will change any time soon. Champ [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] takes on [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] next week in Toronto, and then we’ll get a little clarity on the title picture after that. But ex-champ [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] said a return may be sooner than everyone originally thought – and there’s speculation he might want to move to light heavyweight. And then there’s [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag], whose struggles on the scale at welterweight have him at 185 now. But he also said a recent sickness has knocked him back a few stpes. We’ll look at the upcoming options and make some predictions.
  • [autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag] and [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag] are on the bill Saturday at UFC Fight Night 234 in Las Vegas, the promotion’s first event of the new year. Lightweight Miller and former heavyweight champ Arlovski have their names all over the UFC’s record books. They’re both at the top of the lists for total fights (42 and 40, respectively) and wins (25 and 23). Who’s most likely to extend those records in 2024?
  • Late Sunday, the UFC added two intriguing matchups to its pay-per-view slate in the first quarter of the year. Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will take on Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in a No. 1 contenders fight. And in March in Miami, former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier meets rising standout Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event – and it’ll be a five-rounder. So the 155-pound division is about to have a lot going on for titleholder Islam Makhachev to have waiting for him. What do we think of those matchups and how it might affect the lightweight hierarchy when the dust settles?
  • We’ll hit quick and split to close out with some predictions for 2024 about UFC champs, the weight classes most likely to see some champion turnover, who’s ready to break into the next level, who’s ready to call it quits and more.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta added to UFC Fight Night on Jan. 13

Andrei Arlovski will look to snap a two-fight losing skid in January.

[autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag] will look to snap a two-fight losing skid in January.

Arlovski (34-22 MMA, 23-16 UFC) takes on [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 13, which does not yet have an announced date or location.

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. ESPN Knockout’s Gaston Reyno was first to report the news. Arlovski also confirmed the matchup on social media.

After amassing a four-fight win streak, Arlovski suffered two straight losses to Marco Rogerio de Lima and Don’Tale Mayes. In his June loss to Mayes, Arlovski competed in his 40th UFC bout, the second-most appearances in company history behind Jim Miller at 42.

Cortes-Acosta, a Contender Series graduate, rebounded from his first-career loss to de Lima in April with a first-round knockout of Lukasz Brzeski at UFC Fight Night 225 in August.

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Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Sept. 18-24)

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 or officially announced by the promotions from Sept. 18-24.

5 biggest takeaways from UFC on ESPN 45: Dana White’s comments on Jon Jones vs. Tyson Fury, Conor McGregor

What should we make of Dana White’s attempt to book Jon Jones vs. Tyson Fury and his grim comments on Conor McGregor after UFC on ESPN 45?

What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 45 in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …

UFC on ESPN 45 post-event facts: Is Jim Miller’s record resume UFC Hall of Fame worthy?

Check out the facts and stats to come out of UFC on ESPN 45, where Jim Miller continued to stack historic figures on his resume.

The UFC opened a non-stop schedule of summer events on Saturday with UFC on ESPN 45, which took place at the promotion’s home base of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The main event saw [autotag]Amir Albazi[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) remain undefeated inside the octagon and take the next step as a flyweight contender when he edged [autotag]Kai Kara-France[/autotag] (24-1 MMA, 7-4 UFC) by split decision.

There were a number of other noteworthy results on the card. For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 45.

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