Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
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 Jan. 22-28.
A strawweight matchup pitting ex-champ Jessica Andrade and Marina Rodriguez has been added to UFC 300 in Las Vegas.
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] has booked her first fight of 2024.
The former UFC strawweight champion is scheduled to take on top contender [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] on April 13 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas. The bout will be contested at 115 pounds.
The UFC announced the matchup Friday afternoon.
This marks Andrade’s first fight bout of the year after a busy 2023 in which she fought five times, going 2-3. She last competed in November at UFC 295 where she stopped Mackenzie Dern in the second round. She won a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for her knockout. Prior to that, Andrade (25-12 MMA, 16-10 UFC) had consecutive losses to Tatiana Suarez, Yan Xiaonan and Erin Blanchfield.
Rodriguez (17-3-2 MMA, 7-3-2 UFC) looks to build off her TKO win over Michelle Waterson-Gomez back in September. The win snapped a two-fight losing streak for the Brazilian.
Below is the latest UFC 300 lineup:
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
Take a look at the history of females who have claimed UFC gold.
From the first-ever UFC women’s champion, Ronda Rousey, to the current crop of titleholders, here’s a look at the females who have captured UFC gold since women first step foot in the octagon in 2013.
Here’s MMA Junkie’s 24-fight wishlist for the new year.
2023 didn’t disappoint in terms of great MMA action, and 2024 looks just as promising, if not more.
With 2024 underway, there’s a new year of fresh possibilities for dream matchups across the MMA landscape, from the UFC to Bellator, PFL, RIZIN FF, ONE Championship and more.
For 2023, unfortunately, only four of the 23 dream fights MMA Junkie wished for came to fruition. We’re not deterred, however, and are back with another slate of 24 matchups we aspire to see in 2024.
Below, we present MMA Junkie’s wish list of 24 fights we’d like to see in 2024.
By far, nobody was disrupted by USADA in 2023 more than Paulo Costa. Could it be the flaunting of secret juice?
The UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency nears its end, with a scheduled termination as soon as the calendar flips from 2023 to 2024.
In 2023, USADA tested 739 mixed martial artists a combined 4,231 times. While many athletes were randomly tested less than 10 times, some were tested two dozen – and some others, even more. The totals represented 48 more tests and 14 more athletes than in 2022.
With testing data available on USADA’s official website, here are the 12 fighters tested the most from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26, 2023.
Note: There may have been additional data from Dec. 27-31 that has not yet been updated in the USADA database.
Check out a full recap of 2023’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from UFC research analyst and live statistics producers Michael Carroll, here are some of 2023’s most significant milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
With five finishes on the pay-per-view main card, UFC 295 certainly made its case for Event of the Year.
With five finishes on the pay-per-view main card, UFC 295 certainly made its case for Event of the Year.
In the main event, former middleweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] became a two-division champion by knocking out Jiri Prochazka to claim the light heavyweight title. And in the co-main event, [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] won the interim heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovic.
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag], [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag] and [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] also scored impressive finishes on the Nov. 11 main card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Check out all the highlights in super-slow motion in the UFC 295 “Fight Motion” video highlights above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.
Nineteen indefinite suspensions were handed out after UFC 295, per the New York State Athletic Commission.
UFC 295 took place Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York and featured 13 fights.
On Monday, MMA Junkie acquired a list of athlete medical suspensions from the New York State Athletic Commission, the sanctioning body that oversaw the event. Most injury specifics were not disclosed.
Nineteen of the 26 combatants were given indefinite suspensions and will need to be cleared by a doctor before they return. That’s a high number of indefinite suspensions compared to the average UFC event, although the NYSAC may have different safety protocols compared to other regulatory bodies. All 26 fighters were also given mandatory suspensions, which vary from seven days to 90 days.
Check out the full list of medical suspensions from UFC 295 below.
Mackenzie Dern opened up on her loss at UFC 295.
[autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] opened up on her loss at UFC 295.
Dern (13-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) suffered a second-round TKO to former UFC strawweight champion [autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] (25-12 MMA, 16-10 UFC) on this past Saturday’s main card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Dern showed toughness when she got back up from multiple knockdowns, but Andrade’s power ultimately was too much. Sporting a shiner under her right eye, Dern posted on Instagram to discuss the loss.
“Everything happens at the right time. Of course I was wishing my best performance at MSG and not my first TKO loss, lol but I Trust in Gods plans! I have to learn to control my emotions! I got caught in the emotional fight, which wasn’t the plan. I wanted to do a lot, but not get in big exchanges, where it’s risky. I took 4 knockdowns, that was the first lol. Once again I was tested, given the opportunity and didn’t pass. This is the risk when we enter the octagon, I knew it was going to be a good fight, because we both go for the finish. But I learned a lot and the focus is the belt! Thank you everyone who believed in me, who supports me in victory and defeat, and who continues to believe in me. Sorry for any disappointment, I’m fine, my heart is tight, it hurts, but the rest is all right. Going back to my daughter now and enjoy time with my family and train more because I’ll be back soon. The goal continues, I just need to work more calmly, this warrior has a lot of emotion in everything she does! Lol fall 7 times and get up 8!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Czj-s32yGe6/
Dern now has alternated wins and losses in her past six outings. Prior to getting stopped by Andrade, Dern earned a Fight of the Night bonus for a main event decision win over Angela Hill at UFC Fight Night 223.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.
Our “Spinning Back Clique” crew discusses the fallout from the reshuffled UFC 295, looks ahead to Bellator 301 and much more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.
This week, we welcome in guest panelist John Gooden, the UFC’s play-by-play voice for most of its shows in Europe and Asia and one of the promotion”s chief analysts. He’ll join Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Simon Samano with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
