Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
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 July 17-23
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC Fight Night 209, which saw Ciryl Gane knock out Tai Tuivasa in the main event.
The UFC’s debut event in France was nothing short of spectacular on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena in Paris being a memorable show.
The hometown hero emerged with a stellar win in the main event, as [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) broke down and eventually finished [autotag]Tai Tuivasa[/autotag] (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) with a third-round knockout in the headlining act between heavyweight contenders.
For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 209.
UFC Fight Night 209 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 209 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $155,000.
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 209 took place at Accor Arena. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 209 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tai Tuivasa[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Nassourdine Imavov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Alessio Di Chirico[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jarno Errens[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Charles Jourdain[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dustin Stoltzfus[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Nasrat Haqparast[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]John Makdessi[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Fares Ziam[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Michal Figlak[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gabriel Miranda[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Christian Quinonez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Khalid Taha[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Stephanie Egger[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Ailin Perez[/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 2097 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2091 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 2022 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $5,969,000
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $12,136,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 209.
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Check out these photos from Benoit Saint-Denis’ victory over Gabriel Miranda at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris.
Check out these photos from [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]’ TKO victory over Gabriel Miranda at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
France’s Benoit Saint-Denis got a hero’s reception from the Paris crowd at UFC Fight Night 209, and delivered with a TKO finish.
PARIS – France’s [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag] got a hero’s reception at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris, and he gave them good reason to cheer from the beginning of his fight to the end.
Saint-Denis (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) proved to be far too much for [autotag]Gabriel Miranda[/autotag] (16-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to handle in their lightweight bout at Accor Arena. He landed hard shots on his opponent early and often, and by the time the second round rolled around, needed just one impactful shot to get the TKO stoppage at the 0:16 mark of the stanza.
Check out the replay of Saint-Denis’ handiwork below (via Twitter):
SAINT-DENIS GETS IT DONE IN FRONT OF THE HOME CROWD 🇫🇷#UFCParis pic.twitter.com/bMgzycuU5O
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 3, 2022
After the fight, a jubilant Saint-Denis relished in the moment of an epic reaction from the crowd. He took the fight on short notice, but said there was no denying him inside the octagon.
“I only had three weeks to prepare for this and the crowd was absolutely amazing,” Saint-Denis told Michael Bisping through an interpreter during their post-fight interview. “With their energy it made those three weeks fly by, and I’m so happy.”
The latest UFC Fight Night 209 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 209.
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Check out these photos from the fights at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris, featuring Gane vs. Tuivasa, Whittaker vs. Vettori, and more.
Check out these photos from the fights at UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena in Paris. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
(Gallery updated throughout the event.)
Benoit Saint-Denis is confident he will control the fight against Gabriel Miranda at the UFC’s debut in France.
PARIS – [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag] is confident he will control the fight against [autotag]Gabriel Miranda[/autotag].
Saint-Denis (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) faces newcomer Miranda (16-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena in Paris. The card streams on ESPN+.
Although eight of Saint-Denis’ nine professional wins have come by submission, he doesn’t want to be labeled as a ground fighter. The Frenchman thinks he has the ability to compete wherever the fight ends up.
“I’m a complete MMA fighter,” Saint-Denis told reporters at Thursday’s UFC Fight Night 209 media day. “It will take place where I want it to take place because it’s the way I fight. I’m a pressure fighter, so we’ll see what he can do against that. Maybe he will weather the storm, maybe not – so we’ll see.”
After dropping his octagon debut to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos at UFC 267 in October 2021, Saint-Denis made his lightweight debut against Nikolas Stolze in June and had a standout showing when he submitted him in Round 2.
Although things didn’t go his way against dos Santos, Saint-Denis aspires to reach that level of competition again with a win over Miranda.
“I think it’s going to be a fight with a lot of engagement because we have similarities in some stuff,” Saint-Denis said. “But I’m going to do my job and do everything I can to extend my winning streak and to get closer to a callout with the top 15.
“The UFC gave me a top-15 (opponent) right away in the welterweight division, so there was an 8-kilogram difference between me and Elizeu. Now it won’t happen again. I’m in my weight class, so I’m going to do what I can to climb up the rankings and just to become something great in the lightweight division.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 209.
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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.
