Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out what the UFC 290 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – UFC 290 took place Saturday with 14 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
You can hear from all the UFC 290 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
Check out the best photos from Esteban Ribovics’ unanimous decision win over Kamuela Kirk at UFC 290 in Las Vegas.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Esteban Ribovics[/autotag]’ unanimous decision win over [autotag]Kamuela Kirk[/autotag] at UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Photos by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
Another fight has been added to International Fight Week at UFC 290 as Kamuela Kirk and Esteban Ribovics are expected to square off.
International Fight Week continues to take shape.
A lightweight bout is a targeted addition to UFC 290, which takes place July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as [autotag]Kamuela Kirk[/autotag] and [autotag]Esteban Ribovics[/autotag] are expected to compete. Verbal agreements are in place with paperwork expected to be issued in the coming days.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the targeted booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Kirk (11-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Ribovics (11-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) were originally expected to fight at UFC 285 in March. However, Kirk withdrew and was replaced by Loik Radzhabov, a former PFL championship runner-up. Radzhabov defeated Ribovics by unanimous decision.
The bout will mark Kirk’s UFC lightweight debut. He split his appearances at featherweight with an unanimous decision win over Makwan Amirkhani followed by a submission loss to Damon Jackson.
A native to Argentina, Ribovics earned a UFC deal with a quick finish of Thomas Paull on “Dana White’s Contender Series” in August 2022.
With the addition, the UFC 290 lineup includes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
The numbers show Jon Jones stands in rarified air after making it 15-0 in title fights when he claimed heavyweight gold at UFC 285.
The biggest UFC event of 2023 thus far delivered in spades Saturday with UFC 285 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 14-fight lineup featured eight finishes and two new champions crowned.
In the main event, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) returned from a 37-month layoff and joined an exclusive club of two-division titleholders. The former longtime light heavyweight champion captured heavyweight gold with a first-round submission of [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC).
The co-headliner saw [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) pull off one of the biggest title-fight upsets in recent memory when she dethroned [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (23-4 MMA, 12-3 UFC) with a fourth-round submission to capture the women’s flyweight title.
For more on the numbers coming out of both championship contests, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 285.
Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane both received an equal $32,000 in UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay for their UFC 285 title fight.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 285 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $282,500.
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 285 took place at T-Mobile Arena. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The full UFC 285 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag]: $32,000
[autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag]: $42,000
[autotag]Shavkat Rakhmonov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Cody Garbrandt[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Trevin Jones[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Derek Brunson[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Viviane Araujo[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Marc-Andre Barriault[/autotag]: $6,000
def.[autotag]Julian Marquez[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Ian Garry[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Song Kenan[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Cameron Saaiman[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Mana Martinez[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Tabatha Ricci[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Jessica Penne[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Da’Mon Blackshear[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Loik Radzhabov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Esteban Ribovics[/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 $4,500; 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: $1,440,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $15,959,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
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 Feb. 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 Jan. 2-8.
The UFC added 32 fighters to its roster last month. Find out who joined 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 the increasingly 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.
Scroll below to check out the 32 fighters the promotion inked in August 2022.
Esteban Ribovics says Dana White’s Contender Series 50 was just the beginning of the violence he plans on providing the UFC.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Esteban Ribovics[/autotag] says Dana White’s Contender Series 50 was just the beginning of the violence he plans on providing the UFC lightweight division.
Boasting a 100 percent finish rate, Ribovics (11-0) punched his ticket to the UFC by knocking out Thomas Paull in the featured bout Tuesday. UFC president Dana White said Ribovics’ style was right up his alley, and the undefeated Argentine plans on continuing to deliver emphatic performances.
“In the weigh-ins, I did say that this is what I was gonna do,” Ribovics told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “I was gonna do something to really get something out of Dana, and a promise made was a promise kept, and I got it.
He continued, “That is my style. I promise it’s gonna be like this, and I promise it’s gonna be even more impressive every single time.”
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In a division full of action-packed fighters, Ribovics likes one particular fighter’s style and wouldn’t mind sharing the octagon with him someday.
“In the division there are a lot of good people,” Ribovics said. “I really like (Rafael) Fiziev. So, I’ve actually trained with Fiziev in Florida, and I was able to see him there, and I like what he does. The leg movement and how he moves around, I just think it would be a good fight, but it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. You’re gonna get that from me at any rate, so whoever they put in front of me, that’s what you’re gonna get from me.”
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Check out these photos from Dana White’s Contender Series 50 in Las Vegas.
Check out these photos from the fights at Dana White’s Contender Series 50 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy of Joshua Hedges, UFC)
