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 from Oct. 3-9.
Check out the super slow motion highlights from UFC 279, including clips of Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson.
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] bid the UFC farewell in style.
Diaz (21-13 MMA, 16-11 UFC), who originally was scheduled to face Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 279 main event, fought Tony Ferguson at T-Mobile Arena, instead, in what may have been his final fight in the octagon. It was a wild contest in which Diaz pulled out some of his old tricks, like turning his back to walk away before resuming the fight. He was able to bloody up Ferguson and eventually submitted him in Round 4.
In the co-main event, [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) ran through Kevin Holland by submitting him with a D’Arce choke in the first round.
You can watch it all unfold in super-slow motion in the UFC 279 “Fight Motion” video highlights above.
Also featured are highlights of [autotag]Irene Aldana[/autotag]’s unique up-kick body shot finish of Macy Chiasson, [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]’s first-round submission of Ion Cutelaba, [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]’s bonus-winning submission of Anton Turkalj, [autotag]Chris Barnett[/autotag]’s TKO of Jake Collier and more.
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Jailton Almeida appreciates Jon Anik’s compliment, but doesn’t necessarily agree with him.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] appreciates [autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag]’s compliment, but doesn’t necessarily agree with him.
Almeida (17-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) needed less than a round to take out Anton Turkalj (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at UFC 279 on Saturday in a 220-pound catchweight fight. Almeida took the fight down to the mat early and forced Turkalj to tap with a rear-naked choke.
An impressed commentary crew lauded the Brazilian for his performance, and Anik called it “too easy.” Although Almeida has an array of early finishes to his name, he doesn’t see anything easy in the preparation for the fight.
“First of all, thank you for your commentary. We trained so hard in the gym exactly for that,” Almeida told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at the post-fight news conference. “It’s a process. We work so hard over there. I understand people may look at it and say, ‘OK, yeah that kind of looked easy.’ But no, it’s a process. We go all the way back there and we put so much of an effort during training so we can come over here to make it look easy in your eyes. But it’s a very hard-working process and we go all out at the gym.”
Almeida originally was scheduled to fight Shamil Abdurakhimov, but he withdrew and was replaced on 10 days’ notice by Turkalj. Almedia is hoping for a quick turnaround at UFC 280 on Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi and would like his fight with Abdurakhimov rebooked.
“I want to fight Shamil. I mean, he’s a ranked guy,” Almeida said. “That’s the focus right now. The focus is actually to go to Abu Dhabi, or if we can’t make it in Abu Dhabi, let’s go to Brazil (for UFC 283 in January). Why not?”
Check out Almeida’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
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Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 279 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $202,000.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 279 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $202,000.
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 279 took place at T-Mobile Arena. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNNews and ESPN+.
The full UFC 279 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Kevin Holland[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Li Jingliang[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Irene Aldana[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Macy Chiasson[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Julian Erosa[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Hakeem Dawodu[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Anton Turkalj[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Denis Tiuliulin[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Chris Barnett[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Danyelle Wolf[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Heili Alateng[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Chad Anheliger[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Elise Reed[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Melissa Martinez[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Yohan Lainesse[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Darian Weeks[/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.
Year-to-date total: $6,171,000
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $12,338,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
Check out the best photos from Jailton Almeida’s first-round submission win over Anton Turkalj at UFC 279 in Las Vegas.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]’s first-round submission win over [autotag]Anton Turkalj[/autotag] at UFC 279 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Photos by Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports)
Jailton Almeida is ready to take over the heavyweight division after dominating Anton Turkalj to a submission win at UFC 279.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] had little problem finishing [autotag]Anton Turkalj[/autotag] at UFC 279.
After stepping in on short notice, Almeida (17-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) made quick work of Turkalj (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday when he took the 220-pound catchweight fight down to the mat early in the first round, forced his opponent into multiple tactical mistakes for the tap at the 4:27 mark of Round 1.
Check out the replay of Almeida’s grappling excellence below (via Twitter):
Jailton Almeida making it look easy once again! 👏 #UFC279 pic.twitter.com/c5soGtsMeM
— UFC (@ufc) September 11, 2022
4️⃣ in a row for Jailton Almeida 🇧🇷 #UFC279 pic.twitter.com/OW9OYbSJgG
— UFC (@ufc) September 11, 2022
With the win, Almeida now has three straight victories to start his UFC career. One has come at light heavyweight, one at heavyweight and one at this 220-pound catchweight. He said in the aftermath of his win he’s focused on taking on the giants of the organization.
“I want to be a heavyweight,” Almeida said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “Just put me in Abu Dhabi (for UFC 280). I’m ready to go.”
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC 279 include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
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Check out these photos from the UFC 279 ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday in Las Vegas.
Check out these photos from the UFC 279 ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (Photos courtesy of Ken Hathaway – MMA Junkie)
Check out the photos from the UFC 279 official weigh-ins at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Check out the photos from the UFC 278 official weigh-ins at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas (Images by Ken Hathaway–MMA Junkie)
Take a look at the numbers behind Nate Diaz’s resume as he enters his likely final UFC bout vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279.
The final UFC pay-per-view of the summer goes down Saturday with UFC 279 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
A highly-anticipated and polarizing matchup serves as the main event of the card in “Sin City.” Undefeated rising star [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will attempt to stay undefeated when he meets a legend of the game in [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] (20-13 MMA, 15-11 UFC), who will fight out the final bout on his current UFC contract.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC 279.
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC Fight Night 206, which saw six of 11 fights end in a finish including a shutout.
The UFC closed its May schedule on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 206, which went down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw six of 11 fights end in a finish.
The main event was among the bunch to go to the scorecards. [autotag]Ketlen Vieira[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) edged former UFC champ [autotag]Holly Holm[/autotag] (14-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) by split decision in the women’s bantamweight headliner, marking her second consecutive win over a former UFC champion.
For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 206.
