Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Cesar Almeida knocked out Dylan Budka at UFC Fight Night 240 for a $50,000 bonus and called out a former champion.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag] beat Dylan Budka with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Almeida, who called out former middleweight champion Chris Weidman after the win in his UFC debut.
UFC Fight Night 240 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 240 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $162,500.
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 240 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 240 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Hernandez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Chepe Mariscal[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ignacio Bahamondes[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Christos Giagos[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevor Peek[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Court McGee[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Lukasz Brzeski[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Valter Walker[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Falcao[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Melissa Mullins[/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 2401 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: $2,005,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,742,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 240 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 240 took place Saturday with 12 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 240 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Kickboxing veteran Cesar Almeida, who has beaten Alex Pereira, finished his UFC Fight Night 240 debut by TKO, then called out Chris Weidman.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag] showed much more of his potential than he did on Dana White’s Contender Series during Saturday’s octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 240.
The powerful striking of kickboxing specialist Almeida (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who holds a win in that sport over current UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, was on full display. He thwarted key takedown attempts from opponent [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag] (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC), then rattled off elbows, punches then ground-and-pound for the TKO at the 2:13 mark of Round 2 in the middleweight bout at the UFC Apex.
Check out the replay of the final sequence below (via X):
Cesar Almeida wins his UFC debut with authority 💥 #UFCVegas90 pic.twitter.com/LUUrGNVvFE
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 6, 2024
PUNCHING his way to victory 💥
Cesar Almeida's UFC debut ends early with a TKO! #UFCVegas90 pic.twitter.com/enbQZK36JV
— UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2024
After the fight, Almeida hailed his growth in the grappling. He was frustrated he gave up an early takedown in the fight, but thinks he’s evolving where that’s not going to happen too often in the future.
“I trained a lot of jiu-jitsu in Brazil,” Almeida told Michael Bisping in his post-fight interview. “I’m ready for all the wresters in this division. I’m ready, motherf*ckers.”
Almeida wasn’t kidding, either. He called out former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman after the fight and said he would happy to be tested on the mat.
“Weidman, I’m ready for you brother,” Almeida said. “Let’s see if you can stop me on the ground. Let’s go brother.”
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Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 240 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
The UFC Fight Night on April 6 has faced a change as Dylan Budka replaces Josh Fremd against Cesar Almeida.
Two Dana White’s Contender Series standouts will debut against one another in the UFC.
With [autotag]Josh Fremd[/autotag] out, [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) steps in on less than one month’s notice to fight former Glory Kickboxing standout [autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag] (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event April 6 from 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. It is unclear why Fremd withdrew.
Budka, 24, is a former LFA title challenger who did enough to earn a UFC contract after his performance on DWCS. Budka defeated Chad Hanekom by unanimous decision in a fairly uneventful bout, but UFC CEO Dana White attributed the low excitement level to the opposition. Budka has three finishes in seven pro fights.
Almeida, 35, defeated Lucas Fernando on DWCS in August to earn his UFC deal. Despite his striking prowess, Almeida showed off an educated ground game that wowed White. Almeida was scheduled to debut vs. Christian Leroy Duncan in November, but withdrew due to an infection.
With the change, the UFC Fight Night lineup for April 6 includes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the UFC Fight Night event April 6.
Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights 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, PFL, and Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 15-21.
The UFC matchmakers have been hard at work with multiple replacements needed during fight week.
UFC Fight Night 232 has encountered two fight week changes thus far, and it’s only Tuesday.
With [autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag] and [autotag]Jonny Parsons[/autotag] out of Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, [autotag]Christian Leroy Duncan[/autotag] and [autotag]Uros Medic[/autotag] have new opponents.
Three people with knowledge of the changes recently informed MMA Junkie of them but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Almeida (4-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who withdrew due to an infection, has been replaced by [autotag]Denis Tiuliulin[/autotag] (11-8 MMA, 1-3 UFC) and will fight Duncan (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a middleweight bout on the preliminary card. The pairing was first reported by Vestnik MMA.
Tiuliulin looks to snap a two-fight skid. He most recently competed in August when he was quickly finished with strikes by Gregory Rodrigues. Duncan is a former Cage Warriors middleweight champion who will look to bounce back from his first career loss, a unanimous decision dropped vs. Armen Petrosyan in June.
Parsons is out for an undisclosed reason. He’s been replaced by promotional newcomer [autotag]Myktybek Orolbai Uulu[/autotag] (11-1-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who will fight Medic (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in a welterweight bout on the main card. The matchup was first reported by MMA Orbit.
Uulu is an LFA standout with 10 finishes (six knockouts and four submissions) in 11 victories. Medic rides a two-fight winning streak into the matchup with TKO finishes of Omar Morales and Matthew Semelsberger.
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With the changes, the UFC Fight Night 232 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 2 p.m. ET)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 232.
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.
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 a promotion from Aug. 14-20.
Dana White doesn’t often sign older fighters, but he saw something in Cesar Almeida.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] doesn’t often sign older fighters, but he saw something in [autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag].
Former Glory kickboxer Almeida (4-0) earned a UFC contract Tuesday when he defeated Lucas Fernando (9-2) at Dana White’s Contender Series 57.
White usually eyes younger talent, but respects the resume the 35-year-old Almeida came in with.
“The last guy is the other guy you would question (why he got a contract),” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “I’m not looking for 35-year-old contenders. But 47 wins in kickboxing with 27 knockouts. Now he’s 4-0 in MMA with three knockouts.
“If you look at the fact that he came from a kickboxing background and look at what he overcame tonight – he was down on the ground, he was in the bottom position, he got back up – he fought a hell of a fight for a guy who’s 35 and has fought his whole career in kickboxing. So out of respect, I’m giving this kid a shot.”
When asked how the UFC plans on moving forward with Almeida, White said he thinks the Brazilian is ready to jump right into the mix at middleweight.
“Here’s the thing about him: He was in some bad positions tonight that a guy with 50 something kickboxing fights you’d think would be in big trouble,” White said. “(He was) totally composed like a vet and a pro, took his time, worked his way out of positions, never freaked out, never panicked. First of all, he’s not a guy at his age that you sit on and try to move around (with the matchmaking).
“You bring him in and you throw him in there. He’s got the experience. He looked damn well-rounded tonight to me. We’ll see what he’s got when he gets in the UFC. I’m not looking for 35-year-old contenders, but you have to respect the man, his resume and what he did here tonight. So he’s going to get a shot.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 57.
