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Farid Basharat wept the judges scorecards and stayed unbeaten at UFC Fight Night 234. Now he’s eyeing the top of the division.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag] beat Taylor Lapilus with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Basharat, who swept the judges scorecards and stayed unbeaten.
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 234, which saw Jim Miller grow his all-time wins record and add more history to his resume.
The UFC returned from its holiday hiatus on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and although it wasn’t the most stacked lineup, UFC Fight Night 234 delivered seven stoppage results out of 11 bouts.
In the main event, Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) produced definitive closure on his rivalry with Johnny Walker (21-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC), scoring a second-round knockout in their light heavyweight rematch to potentially set himself up for a championship opportunity.
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 Fight Night 234.
UFC Fight Night 234 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 234 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $159,500.
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 234 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 234 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Gabriel Benitez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Brunno Ferreira[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Phil Hawes[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Preston Parsons[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Matthew Semelsberger[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gaston Bolanos[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jean Silva[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Westin Wilson[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tom Nolan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Felipe Bunes[/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 2341 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: $159,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $22,866,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 234 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 234 took place Saturday with 11 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 234 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 234.
Xtreme Couture is MMA Junkie’s 2023 Gym of the Year for its success molding Francis Ngannou, Sean Strickland, Patchy Mix and others.
What a year it was for the Las Vegas-based Xtreme Couture’s coaching staff and fight team.
Head coach Eric Nicksick was at the helm, flanked by a staff that includes Dewey Cooper, Dennis Davis, Nathan Pettit, Eddie Barraco, Jimmy Gifford, Danny Davis Jr., Maki Pitolo, Jake Shields, Ray Sefo, Roman Isbell, Matheus Naccache, Gil Guardado, and Justin Jaynes among others.
Among the gym’s accomplishments in 2023, [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] crossed over into the world of boxing, where he knocked down (and nearly defeated) heavyweight champion Tyson Fury – in his professional debut.
Xtreme Couture middleweight staple [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] defied the odds when he dethroned Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September to become champion.
[autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] solidified his status as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters outside the UFC when he finished Raufeon Stots and Sergio Pettis to win the Bellator bantamweight grand prix and divisional title.
Other Xtreme Couture standouts in 2023 included [autotag]Tatiana Suarez[/autotag], [autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag], [autotag]Manel Kape[/autotag], [autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag], [autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag], and others who also had strong years. The training room’s population continues to grow with many other fighters on the verge of greatness.
That’s why Xtreme Couture is MMA Junkie’s 2023 Gym of the Year.
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 the promotions from Nov. 6-12.
Farid Basharat wants to get in one more fight before the end of the year.
PARIS – [autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag] didn’t get time to call his shot in his in-cage, post-fight interview at UFC Fight Night 226, but he did let the media know what he wants next.
Basharat (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who defeated Kleydson Rodrigues (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) by first-round submission on Saturday night, is hoping to get another fight this 2023.
“I want to fight Dec. 16, maybe if it’s (Conor) McGregor vs. (Michael) Chandler,” Basharat said backstage in the post-fight press conference. “If not, it doesn’t matter. I want to fight Dec. 16. I think that’s 15 weeks for now. I feel good for the most part, so I want to stay active, and I want to get back in there. I feel very confident in my ability. Dec. 16, that’s the card I want to fight on.”
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As far as a potential opponent, Basharat doesn’t see availability at the top, and there’s no way he’ll call someone out below him.
“No, there isn’t anybody I have in mind,” Basharat said. “The division is in a place where most of the people above me are booked. There are some guys who are below me, but they’re not worth calling out, you know. I don’t want to cherry-pick.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 226, such as Rose Namajunas being on the first true losing skid of her career.
The UFC’s second trip to Paris was another significant event for French MMA with UFC Fight Night 226 going down Saturday at Accor Arena.
Multiple French fighters on the card thrived, but none more than former interim UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC, who thrived in the main event with a second-round TKO of [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) to rebound from his loss against Jon Jones earlier this year.
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 Fight Night 226.
* * * *
UFC Fight Night 226 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
PARIS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $128,500.
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 226 took place at the Accor Arena in France. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 226 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Thiago Moises[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Bogdan Guskov[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yanis Ghemmouri[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Manolo Zecchini[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Caolan Loughran[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ange Loosa[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Rhys McKee[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kleydson Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jacqueline Cavalcanti[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Zarah Fairn[/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 2261 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: $5,735,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $20,324,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
Farid Basharat tamed a wild Kleydson Rodrigues to get the submission at UFC Fight Night 226.
PARIS – [autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag] tamed a wild [autotag]Kleydson Rodrigues[/autotag] to get the submission at UFC Fight Night 226.
Basharat (11-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) walked through Rodrigues’ (9-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) strikes before getting him down to the mat. He was able to transition to full mount before cinching in an arm-triangle choke submission at the 4:15 mark of Round 1 on Saturday at Accor Arena.
Check out the video of Basharat’s finish below (via Twitter):
Farid Basharat gets the first finish of #UFCParis 💪 pic.twitter.com/ra9iUP1Bv9
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 2, 2023
Basharat scored the first finish of his UFC career. The unbeaten 26-year-old is now 2-0 in the octagon since graduating from the Contender Series.
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC Fight Night 226 include:
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
