Tag: Claudio Ribeiro

UFC 288 post-event facts: Aljamain Sterling takes sole possession of 135-pound wins record

Check out the statistics coming out of UFC 288, where Aljamain Sterling added to a resume that points to him being the bantamweight GOAT.

The UFC made its return to New Jersey after nearly four years Saturday with UFC 288, which took place at Prudential Center in Newark and featured a 12-fight lineup with six stoppage results.

One of the fights that went the distance happened in the main event when [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) retained the bantamweight title with a split decision win over former two-division champ [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC), who was returning from a three-year retirement.

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 288.

UFC 288 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Aljamain Sterling nets biggest bag

Aljamain Sterling received the highest Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay for entering UFC 288 as champion.

NEWARK, N.J. – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 288 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $267,500.

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 288 took place at Prudential Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

The full UFC 288 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag]: $42,000
def. [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Yan Xiaonan[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Charles Jourdain[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Kron Gracie[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Matt Frevola[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Drew Dober[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Devin Clark[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Khaos Williams[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rolando Bedoya[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Virna Jandiroba[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Parker Porter[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Braxton Smith[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Ikram Aliskerov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Phil Hawes[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Claudio Ribeiro[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Joseph Holmes[/autotag]: $4,500

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 2011 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: $2,823,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $17,412,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 288.

UFC 288 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC 288 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

NEWARK, N.J. – UFC 288 took place Saturday with 12 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner and guest fighter interviews from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

You can hear from all the UFC 288 winners and more by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

UFC 288 video: Claudio Ribeiro pummels Joseph Holmes in prelims opener

Claudio Ribeiro got the New Jersey crowd going early with his stoppage win over Joseph Holmes at UFC 288.

[autotag]Claudio Ribeiro[/autotag] opened the show in style Saturday.

During the UFC 288 preliminary card opener, Ribeiro (11-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) nearly finished [autotag]Joseph Holmes[/autotag] (8-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC) in Round 1 before the bell. The horn just delayed the ultimate outcome as Ribeiro finished the fight with punches at 3:21 of Round 2.

A knee dropped Ribeiro to the canvas before Ribeiro’s ground-and-pound forced referee Gary Copeland to wave off the middleweight bout, which took place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Ribeiro, 30, picked up his first UFC win and bounced back from a knockout loss to Abdul Razak Alhassan in his promotional debut in January.

Holmes, 27, has lost back-to-back fights by second-round stoppage. He missed weight by three pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins. Holmes said he tried to bulk muscle up for this fight, which backfired after miscalculations.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 288.

Claudio Ribeiro def. Joseph Holmes at UFC 288: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Claudio Ribeiro’s second-round TKO win over Joseph Holmes at UFC 288 in Newark, N.J.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Claudio Ribeiro[/autotag]’s second-round TKO win over Joseph Holmes at UFC 288 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (Photos by Ed Mulholland, USA TODAY Sports)

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (March 20-26)

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 March 20-26.

UFC Fight Night 217 post-event facts: Sean Strickland joins exclusive three-division club

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 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Program total passes $14.5 million

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:

  • “UFC Fight Night 217: Strickland vs. Imavov” – $137,000

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.

UFC Fight Night 217 results: Abdul Razak Alhassan violently knocks out Claudio Ribeiro in second

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):

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.

[vertical-gallery id=2609367]

[vertical-gallery id=2609365]

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Nov. 28-Dec. 4)

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.