Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2024.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for January.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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Jimmy Flick believes his submission win at Saturday’s UFC 297 might’ve saved his job with the promotion.
TORONTO – [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag] is looking to stay a UFC fighter.
The grappling standout revealed he fought out his contract Saturday at UFC 297. Flick (17-7 MMA, 2-2 UFC) submitted Malcolm Gordon (14-8 MMA, 2-5 UFC) in the opening bout of UFC 297 and snapped a two-fight skid. He also likely saved his spot on the roster – or so Flick hopes.
Flick thinks he deserves to stay with the promotion despite his past setbacks.
“Coming out like that with the fans against me, the guy didn’t make the weight, everything was against me,” Flick told reporters at the UFC 297 post-fight press conference. “If I lost tonight, I feel like I was going to lose my job, and I was going back to find a new job. That’s not what I wanted, so this means the world to me.
“I am 2-2 in the UFC – four fights and never hit the scorecards and don’t plan on hitting the scorecards. Three out of four fights, there’s been a bonus.”
Although Flick was denied a $50,000 bonus award Saturday, he’s hoping to get re-signed and wouldn’t mind getting booked to rematch Cody Durden, whom he beat in his UFC debut back in 2020.
“I want anybody the UFC will give me, but I want that Cody Durden rematch,” Flick said. “I know he wants it. I don’t need it as much. Since I left that UFC octagon, he built up some wins, he got into the rankings, so I want to take everything he worked for again.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
The best facts to come out of UFC 297, which saw two new champions crowned with historic achievements attached to both new reigns.
The UFC’s first pay-per-view of the year is likely to prove to be far from the most memorable, but UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto did prove significant with two new champions crowned.
In the main event, [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) edged [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) by split decision in the Fight of the Night to claim the middleweight championship. In the co-headliner, [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) outlasted [autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag] (10-3-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) for a unanimous decision for the vacant women’s bantamweight title.
For more on the numbers behind the title fights, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts for UFC 297.
Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 297 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $285,500.
TORONTO – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 297 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $285,500.
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 297 took place at Scotiabank Arena in Canada. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.
The full UFC 297 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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[autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag]: $42,000
[autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag]: $32,000
[autotag]Neil Magny[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Mike Malott[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marc-Andre Barriault[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Garrett Armfield[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Brad Katona[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Sean Woodson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Charles Jourdain[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Ramon Taveras[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Serhiy Sidey[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Gillian Robertson[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Polyana Viana[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Sam Patterson[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yohan Lainesse[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Jasmine Jasudavicius[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Priscila Cachoeira[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Malcolm Gordon[/autotag]: $6,000
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.
Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $445,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,152,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
Check out what the UFC 297 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Toronto.
TORONTO – UFC 297 took place Saturday with 12 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
You can hear from all the UFC 297 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
The crowd and Toronto fell silent during the first UFC 297 prelim as Jimmy Flick rallied to put away Canada’s Malcolm Gordon.
Just when [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag] looked like he was going to be a highlight on someone else’s reel, he added another slick submission to his resume.
In enemy territory Saturday at UFC 297 in Toronto, Flick (16-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) survived a damaging onslaught from Canada’s [autotag]Malcolm Gordon[/autotag] and rallied for a triangle choke finish at 1:17 of Round 2. The flyweight bout kicked off the preliminary card at Scotiabank Arena.
JIMMY FLICK GETS THE UPSET 😤#UFC297 is LIVE NOW on @ESPNPlus 📺 pic.twitter.com/G43rMqHe6q
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 20, 2024
Flick, 33, was largely dominated throughout the first round before he pulled off the comeback. With the victory, Flick snapped a two-fight losing skid.
With the loss, Gordon falls onto a three-fight skid and announced his retirement on social media hours after the fight.
The up-to-the-minute UFC 297 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.
Check out the best photos from Jimmy Flick’s second-round submission win over Malcolm Gordon at UFC 297 in Toronto.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag]’s second-round submission win over [autotag]Malcolm Gordon[/autotag] at UFC 297 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. (Photos by UFC, USA Today Sports)
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 Oct. 9-15.
The UFC on ESPN 46 main event between Jared Cannonier and Marvin Vettori set a new bar for strikes landed in a middleweight bout.
UFC on ESPN 46 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas proved to be a historic night.
The main event saw [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) emerge from a key matchup of former middleweight title challengers with a unanimous decision win over [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) in which he set a new single-fight record for most significant strikes landed in a divisional contest.
The Fight of the Night delivered, but for more numbers on the entire card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 46.
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UFC on ESPN 46 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 on ESPN 46 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $140,000.
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 on ESPN 46 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN 46 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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[autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Joaquim Silva[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Armen Petrosyan[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Christian Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Lucas Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Alessandro Costa[/autotag]: $4,000
def [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Kyung Ho Kang[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Cristian Quinonez[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Carlos Hernandez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Denys Bondar[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Tereza Bleda[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gabriella Fernandes[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,000
vs. [autotag]Ronnie Lawrence[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Zac Pauga[/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 $46,000 while title challengers get $46,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-46 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $3,790,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $18,379,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.
