Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Jean Matsumoto stayed unbeaten with a finish in his UFC debut against Dan Argueta at UFC Fight Night 240 in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag] beat Dan Argueta with a second-round technical submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Matsumoto, who stayed unbeaten with a finish in his UFC debut, though he was passed up for a post-fight bonus award.
UFC Fight Night 240 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 240 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $162,500.
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 240 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 240 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Hernandez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Chepe Mariscal[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ignacio Bahamondes[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Christos Giagos[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevor Peek[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Court McGee[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Lukasz Brzeski[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Valter Walker[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Falcao[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Melissa Mullins[/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 2401 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: $2,005,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,742,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 240 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 240 took place Saturday with 12 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 240 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 240.
Now 15-0 in MMA, Jean Matsumoto had to fend off many takedown attempts from Dan Argueta at UFC Fight Night 240 before winning by submission.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag] had to fend off endless takedown attempts from [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 240 before finally using one to his advantage to end the fight.
Highly touted bantamweight prospect Matsumoto (15-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) found himself on bottom multiple times from Argueta (9-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) over the course of nearly two full rounds. He then applied a tight arm-in guillotine choke with just one second left and forced the tap at the 4:59 mark of Round 2 at the UFC Apex.
The guillotine has led Matsumoto to multiple previous wins in his career, and it happened again in the biggest spot of his career. Check out the replay of the submission below (via X):
COMPLETED GUILLOTINE WITH TWO SECONDS LEFT 🤯@JeMatsumotoUFC with an impressive finish in his UFC debut! #UFCVegas90 pic.twitter.com/2TBsVoqexf
— UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2024
Matsuomoto was nothing short of thrilled after getting his hand raised and extending his unbeaten record. At just 24, he hopes it’s one one of many notable results going forward in his career
“I’m here to prove to people it doesn’t matter where you come from,” Matsumoto told Michael Bisping through an interpreter during his post-fight interview. “I come from a community outside of Sao Paulo. I ended up here. I want people to believe it.”
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Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 240 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
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 Feb. 26-March 3.
Find out who joined the UFC in September 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 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.
Check out the September 2023 list below.
Since age 8, Jean Matsumoto has been dreaming of becoming a UFC fighter, and it became reality at Dana White’s Contender Series.
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LAS VEGAS – A childhood dream for [autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag] became reality Tuesday at the UFC Apex.
Undefeated lightweight Matsumoto (14-0) stepped into the cage for the first fight of Dana White’s Contender Series 62 to face Kasey Tanner. After a 15-minute thriller, UFC CEO Dana White entered the cage to greet both fighters – something that has only happened once before in the history of the show.
Matsumoto won the contest by unanimous decision, and considering White’s reaction to the bout, didn’t have to worry the rest of the evening to know if he would win a UFC contract too. White showed his cards, and rightfully so for the incredible fight. It all became official four fights later: Matsumoto realized a dream he had as a young child and became a UFC fighter.
“I started training at six years old, and I decided to move on to MMA at eight years old,” Matsumoto explained to MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at a post-fight news conference. “Ever since that happened, I set my goals and said that I was going to be in the UFC. Obviously, being so young and having all that experience is very important. I feel ready to be in the UFC.”
Now that he’s in, the 24-year-old Brazilian is ready to get to work, and appears eager to please the UFC brass. If he gets his next wish, he wants his third fight of the year to take place on a rumored card expected to take place in Florida.
“I came here to work. Whatever Dana says, I’m ready to go,” Matsumoto said. “I want to be the employee of the month, and whatever they say, I’ll be ready to fight. It’s what I love. I train all the time. If I could, I’d train 24 hours a day, I’d never stop. I heard there’s a card in Orlando at the end of the year, and I would love to see Disney.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 62.
Season 7, Week 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series may have been one of the best in history. Five fighters will join the UFC as a result.
LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie was at Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 62 event at the UFC Apex.
Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with UFC president Dana White on hand to make the decisions.
The sixth episode of Season 7 saw 10 fighters compete for their shots at UFC contracts. When the dust settled, UFC CEO White offered contracts to all five winners: bantamweight Jean Matsumoto, strawweight Julia Polastri, featherweight Steven Nguyen, heavyweight Jhonata Diniz, and lightweight James Llontop.
The action, particularly through the first three fights, had White and the matchmakers on their feet. White even entered the cage following the conclusion of the opening bout between JeaMatsumoto and Tanner, which was a three-round striking war.
Two losing fighters, Tanner and A.J. Cunningham, were paid their win bonuses for their efforts, according to White.
Full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 62 include:
