Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
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. 22-28.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from December 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from December 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for December.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
A dozen UFC Austin competitors including Arman Tsarukyan, Beneil Dariush, and Bobby Green have been given lengthy suspensions by Texas.
UFC on ESPN 52 took place Saturday at Moody Center in Austin, Texas and featured a dozen fights.
Of the 24 competitors on the card, 12 fighters were suspended 180 days due to injuries sustained in their bouts, according to documentation from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), the commissioning body that oversaw the event.
Among those who received the lengthiest suspensions are both sides of the main event, Arman Tsarukyan and Beneil Dariush, as well as co-main eventer Bobby Green.
The TDLR does not reveal injury specifics, just the duration of the suspensions. Fighters are permitted to return to competition prior to the conclusion of their suspension durations should they be cleared by a doctor beforehand.
Check out the 24 medical suspension durations below:
Analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC on ESPN 52, which proved to be one of the most memorable events of 2023.
What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 52 in Austin, Texas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
Drakkar Klose landed just the 13th slam knockout in UFC history – and his may have been the most brutal of them all.
AUSTIN, Texas – There was a specific plan in place by [autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag] and his team for Joe Solecki.
Put simply: Don’t give him your back at UFC on ESPN 52.
“We knew he was a tough guy on the ground and we worked a lot on not letting him take my back,” Klose told MMA Junkie after the fight. “I guess it paid off. I didn’t let him take my back.”
Klose figured he’d have to wrestle, and his preference was to slug it out on the feet. He said he had a brief conversation with Solecki about it at their ceremonial weigh-in faceoff at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, and thought they were on the same page.
So when Klose, in the first round, found himself needing to be loosed of Solecki latching on to him, he lifted him from the canvas to try to slam his way free. The result was perhaps the most devastating slam knockout in MMA history, at least from a visual perspective since Solecki’s head was turned to the side, sending the impact straight to his temple.
Klose (14-2-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC) got the fight-ending slam just 101 seconds into the bout and became just the second fighter to knock out Solecki (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC). And it sounds like Klose thinks he may have given Solecki his just desserts for the whole wrestling dupe.
“Yesterday at the faceoff, I was like, ‘Man, let’s not f*cking wrestle,'” Klose said. “And he was like, ‘Oh, I’m not’ – but I guess he lied.
“I was just trying to get in his head (at the ceremonial weigh-ins). I was like, ‘F*ck, I want to strike.’ You don’t get paid more money if you just want to sit there and grapple. Fans want to see knockouts. Well, I guess you can knock someone out grappling.”
Klose got a $50,000 bonus for the knockout. The extra check was written virtually the moment Solecki’s head hit the canvas, given it was just the 13th slam KO in the UFC’s 30-year history – an average of one every 2.5 years or so. Through the sheer will of what turned out to be potentially the best event of the year, Cody Brundage got the 14th slam KO in the very next fight.
Klose said he wants to build o the momentum of his highlight-reel slam – which is going to be on UFC sizzle reels basically forever now, and deservedly so. But he hinted that maybe he needs to start calling some of his shots.
“We’ve got another (baby coming) – he should be here February,” Klose said. “I want to stay active, but I want to stay active on my terms. I want to fight on my boy Sean (O’Malley’s) card March 9 (at UFC 299). Hopefully that can happen. (Against) Mark Madsen? No, I’ve got to be realistic – he’s lost two in a row. I don’t know. I always tell Sean Shelby and my manager names and they always come back with somebody totally different. So it’s pretty much whoever they want me to fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
Check out all the facts from UFC on ESPN 52, which saw a record two slam KOs and Clay Guida tying the UFC record for most losses.
The UFC’s third-to-last event of 2023 went down as one of the best of the year. UFC on ESPN 52 delivered with nine stoppages in 12 fights.
[autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag] (21-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) capped off the night with the quickest finish of the bunch. He dropped and stopped [autotag]Beneil Dariush[/autotag] (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC) just 64 seconds into their high-stakes lightweight headliner, solidifying himself as a top contender.
For more on the numbers behind the card, which featured a number of historic feats, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 52.
UFC on ESPN 52 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
AUSTIN, Texas – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 52 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $225,000.
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 on ESPN 52 took place at Moody Center. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN 52 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Beneil Dariush[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Joaquim Silva[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Clay Guida[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Dustin Stoltzfus[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Punahele Soriano[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Miesha Tate[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Julia Avila[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Cody Brundage[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Zach Reese[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Joe Solecki[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Rodolfo Bellato[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Ihor Potieria[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Wellington Turman[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Veronica Hardy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jamey-Lyn Horth[/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 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,520; 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 $52,000 while title challengers get $52,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-52 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $7,689,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $22,208,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
Check out the best photos from Drakkar Klose’s first-round knockout win over Joe Solecki at UFC on ESPN 52 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag]’s first-round knockout win over [autotag]Joe Solecki[/autotag] at UFC on ESPN 52 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. (Photos by Dustin Safranek, USA TODAY Sports)
At UFC Austin, Drakkar Klose bounced Joe Solecki’s head off the canvas like a basketball during a nasty slam knockout.
Slam knockouts almost never happen in the UFC, but Saturday was different.
On the UFC on ESPN 52 prelims at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, [autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag] (14-2-1 MMA, 8-2 UFC) elevated and slammed [autotag]Joe Solecki[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) for a rare slam knockout. The stoppage came at the 1:41 mark of Round 1.
Solecki’s undoing turned out to be an armbar attempt off his back. As Solecki sought a fight-ending torque, the side of his head was driven hard into the canvas with the slam for a direct impact. Solecki’s head bounced like a basketball off the mat and his lights went out.
WHAT A KNOCKOUT 😳 #UFCAUSTIN pic.twitter.com/Sv2EdyC9kE
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 2, 2023
The bout was Klose’s first since July 2022 and extended his winning streak to three. On the flip side, Solecki had a two-fight winning streak snapped.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 52 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
The UFC is heading back to Austin, Texas, it seems, as it’s taken out a permit from the state’s commission for December.
It appears the UFC is headed back to “The Lone Star State” for its final domestic Fight Night event of 2023.
The promotion has requested an event permit to hold a card Dec. 2 in Austin, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), which oversees the state’s combative sports events.
Three people with knowledge of the situation recently informed MMA Junkie of the targeted location but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an announcement. Additionally, two fighters set for the card, [autotag]Drakkar Klose[/autotag] and [autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag], also publicly indicated on social media Austin would be the location for their fight.
It’s the first time the promotion has been back to Texas since a San Antonio event in March at Moody Center. The promotion most recently visited Austin in March 2022 for UFC on ESPN 37. At the time, the event was the largest-grossing non-pay-per-view event in promotion history. The card topped by Josh Emmett vs. Calvin Kattar was action-packed with nine finishes on the card. UFC CEO Dana White was so impressed, all nine finishers received $50,000 performance bonuses.
The card does not currently have an announced headliner, though multiple contender bouts are slated for the card including Gastelum vs. [autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag], [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag], and [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag].
The current UFC Fight Night lineup for Dec. 2 includes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the UFC Fight Night on Dec. 2.
