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With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from March 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from March 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for March.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from March 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from March 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for March.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
See what company president Scott Coker had to say about Daniel James, Cat Zingano, Cris Cyborg, Patricio Freire and more after Bellator 293.
TEMECULA, Calif. – The heavyweight title picture got a fresh name Friday, but that’s not the only big thing going on with Bellator lately.
After Bellator 293 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif., promotion president Scott Coker talked to MMA Junkie and other media members at a post-event news conference.
Coker talked about [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag]’ emergence at heavyweight, [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] as the No. 1 women’s featherweight title contender for champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] and featherweight champ [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag]’s upcoming shot at the bantamweight belt.
See what Coker had to say about those topics and more below.
Check out the full list of fighter salaries from this past Friday’s Bellator 292 event in San Jose, Calif.
Twenty fighters competed this past Friday at Bellator 292 with the titleholders leading all disclosed payouts.
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster released a full list of fighter payouts Thursday to MMA Junkie. The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments or discretionary bonuses.
Three of five fighters who pocketed six-figure disclosed paydays tied for the top spot on the list with $150,000. Lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov (17-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) submitted Benson Henderson (30-12 MMA, 7-7 BMMA) in the main event, which also was the opening round of Bellator’s lightweight grand prix.
Both Nurmagomedov and Henderson made a disclosed $150,000 flat purse for their fights, win or lose. The other $150,000 recipient was Alexander Shabliy (23-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), who made $75,000 to show and a $75,000 win bonus for his finish of Tofiq Musayev (20-5 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in the tournament’s opening round.
In addition, Linton Vassell (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) made a flat $100,000 for his heavyweight knockout of Valentin Moldavsky (11-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) and Michael Page (21-2 MMA, 17-2 BMMA) made a flat $100,000 for his quick injury TKO of Goiti Yamauchi (28-6 MMA, 14-5 BMMA).
Scroll below to see what the 20 fighters on Bellator 292 were paid – disclosed amounts only.
Scott Coker made a play for his pal Luke Rockhold’s services once again, but for now the former champ has gone a different direction.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Scott Coker made a play for his pal [autotag]Luke Rockhold[/autotag]’s services once again, but for now the former champ has gone a different direction.
Coker had Rockhold as part of his middleweight roster in Strikeforce from 2008-2012, and the Bay Area native won the title in 2011. He defended it twice in 2012 before he went to the UFC after Strikeforce was dissolved.
Rockhold went on to win the UFC’s middleweight title, though he lost it in his first attempted defense. Rockhold stepped away from the sport for more than three years before he returned this past August at UFC 278, where he lost a Fight of the Night decision to Paulo Costa.
Rockhold announced his retirement after the fight and was released from his UFC deal. But already, he needed to scratch his competitive itch. Coker said he had a conversation with Rockhold about coming to Bellator – and thought the promotion was in the running.
“Luke and I had a great conversation in L.A. during the Fedor fight,” Coker said at the Bellator 292 post-fight news conference this past Friday in San Jose, Calif. “We had a great conversation and we were going to continue our dialogue and I was hopeful that we would at least have another conversation to see if there was something to be done.”
Instead, Rockhold signed a deal to fight fellow former UFC fighter Mike Perry in a bareknuckle boxing match at BKFC 41 on April 29 in Denver.
It didn’t seem like Coker has any hard feelings, even though he would’ve liked to win the Rockhold lottery that few people thought would be up for grabs so soon.
“It seems like they got a really good offer from Bareknuckle, and I don’t blame him,” Coker said. “He’s a prize fighter and he’s going to go fight. He’s got to feed his family and take care of himself. So that’s what worked out. Let’s see what happens. To me, it was a little bit of surprise. But this is a business. Friendship aside, Luke and I can go and play golf and hang out and have lunch and be boys, but this is a business.”
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It’s fair to say Bellator president Scott Coker is reasonably excited about the next heavyweight title fight he’s likely to promote.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – It’s fair to say Scott Coker is reasonably excited about the next heavyweight title fight he’s likely to promote.
[autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 12-5 BMMA) had some early issues in his rematch with Valentin Moldavsky (11-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) at Bellator 292 this past Friday in San Jose, Calif. But he worked his way out of trouble and rallied for a big knockout win to avenge a past loss.
The fight was a No. 1 contender fight for a title shot against champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag], which will be another rematch for Vassell. He lost a light heavyweight title shot to Bader in November 2017.
Bader has since lost the 205-pound title, but has looked nearly untouchable at heavyweight. And so, too, has Vassell – with five straight wins and five finishes since he entered the division with his loss to Moldavsky. Coker thinks both of them are where they should be now.
“I think both these guys are better at heavyweight than they are at light heavyweight, and for whatever reason, they perform at a higher level when they’re in the heavyweight division,” Coker told MMA Junkie at the post-fight news conference. “I’m looking forward to it because the Linton I saw (Friday) is not the Linton I’ve ever seen before. Moldavsky is no joke. He is a real solid heavyweight, has great skills all the way around, has had a great training camp, obviously trains with Fedor (Emelianenko) and that whole team, and it seemed like (Vassell) just dominated him and took it to him.”
Coker said the plan is for Vassell to challenge Bader for the heavyweight title. But like everything in MMA, nothing is set in stone. Still, he expects the matchup to happen, and maybe not too far in the future, either.
Bader is coming off a quick finish of Emelianenko to defend the heavyweight belt. Vassell’s time preference is late fall, but he’d no doubt answer the call for a title shot no matter when it is.
“We look forward to promoting that fight,” Coker said. “I think Bader should be the next opponent (for Vassell). We haven’t talked to Ryan yet, so there’s still some things to be discussed. But that’s my goal is to put that fight together as soon as possible.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 292.
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Enrique Barzola said he doesn’t like to predict the future, but has an inkling he might bounce between a pair of weight classes.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – [autotag]Enrique Barzola[/autotag] said he doesn’t like to predict the future, but has an inkling he might bounce between a pair of weight classes.
Barzola (19-7-2 MMA, 7-3-1 BMMA) this past Friday outworked fellow former UFC fighter Erik Perez (20-9 MMA, 1-3 BMMA) for a unanimous decision to close out the preliminary card at Bellator 292 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
That win was his return to featherweight and snapped a two-fight skid that came against former bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta at a 141-pound contract weight and Magomed Magomedov at bantamweight. Dating back to the end of his 10-fight UFC run, Barzola fought at bantamweight twice and in-between weights from 135-145 twice.
Now he thinks he might just take fights in whichever division they’re available.
“(It) depends on my coaches,” Barzola told MMA Junkie after his win over Perez. “Maybe I want to continue in this division at 145. I want to continue at 145, but I will be ready for 135. I would like to fight with Aaron Pico in the future.”
Check out Barzola’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 292.
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Usman Nurmagomedov showed more slivers of greatness as he moved to 17-0 with a first defense of his lightweight title at Bellator 292.
[autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] showed more slivers of greatness as he remained undefeated in MMA with a dominant first defense of his lightweight title at Bellator 292.
Nurmagomedov (17-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) sent former UFC and WEC champion Benson Henderson (30-12 MMA, 7-7 BMMA) into retirement on Friday with a first-round submission victory in their 155-pound title fight at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Touted by many insiders as perhaps the most talented member of the Nurmagomedov family, the younger cousin of UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov, displayed his well rounded skillset when he dropped Henderson with a head kick early in their fight before finishing the job with a submission inside three minutes.
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With current UFC lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev in his corner, the natural post-fight discussion of exactly how good Nurmagomedov is in comparison to other elites in his weight class came about.
At just 24, Nurmagomedov is in theory still years away from his prime, but is already a serious talent. So, how far can he go?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Danny Segura, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Farah Hannoun broke it down with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique” live stream covering the biggest topics from MMA, including a lookahead to UFC 286 this weekend.
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 Danny Segura, Farah Hannoun and Brian “Goze” Garcia will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
Now that he’s through to the Bellator lightweight grand prix semifinals, Alexander Shabliy is going to have to play the waiting game.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Now that he’s through to the semifinals, [autotag]Alexander Shabliy[/autotag] is going to have to play the waiting game.
Shabliy (23-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) took Tofiq Musayev (20-5 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) out of the lightweight grand prix this past Friday with a unanimous decision in the Bellator 292 co-main event at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Shabliy, who trains at American Top Team in South Florida, said he was ready for anything Musayev brought to the table – which was skey, given Musayev was coming off a 27-second knockout in his Bellator debut.
“The fight pretty much went the way we expected,” Shabliy said through an interpreter following Bellator 292. “I feel great and ready to move on. We knew it was going to be a standup fight, but it was a little more tactical, a little bit more patient. We had a certain plan and I saw it unfolding today. We analyzed what things might (happen), and from the first round, I realized, ‘OK, that’s pretty much what we expected,’ and I acted accordingly.”
Now Shabliy has to wait to found out who his opponent in the semifinals will be. On his side of the bracket, former featherweight champion A.J. McKee takes on former lightweight champ Patricky Freire on May 6.
And after that, he’ll need to find out a date for their semifinal matchup – not likely until late summer at the earliest.
“I definitely know it’s going to be a busy year, so I’m not planning to rest too much,” Shabliy said. “We’re going to wait for the next announcement – who’s going to be the next opponent, whether it’s McKee, and then we’re going to start training right away because I don’t want to waste any time.
“I don’t really have a preference. I’m going to have one, and then give me the other one right after. I train with the American Top Team. We have top guys, so I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen really great guys. Either one is worthy.”
On the other side of the tournament bracket, lightweight titleholder Usman Nurmagomedov submitted Benson Henderson to defend his belt and advance to the semifinals in the Bellator 292 main event. Nurmagomedov awaits the winner of former champ Brent Primus vs. Mansour Barnaoui.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 292.
