Tag: Joel Alvarez

Joel Alvarez out of UFC on ESPN 55 bout vs. Mateusz Rebecki

Rising Spanish lightweight Joel Alvarez has withdrawn for the third time in his four most recent UFC bookings.

UFC lightweight [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] has found much success inside the promotion’s cage. It’s just been difficult for him to get in there.

For undisclosed reasons, Alvarez (20-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) is out of his UFC on ESPN 55 bout opposite [autotag]Mateusz Rebecki[/autotag] (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) that was expected to take place on the April 27 main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the situation recently informed MMA Junkie of the change but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Alvarez has withdrawn from three of his most recent four UFC bookings. Visa issues have been a problem for Alvarez throughout the years. Alvarez only has fought seven times in a little more than five years with the promotion.

Plans for Rebecki’s next bout currently are being configured, though it’s unclear if he’ll remain on the card. Rebecki rides a 13-fight winning streak and was touted by UFC CEO Dana White as one of the best fighters on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023.

With the change, the UFC on ESPN 55 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Alex Perez vs. Matheus Nicolau
  • Bogdan Guskov vs. Ryan Spann
  • Mateusz Rebecki vs. TBA
  • Ariane Lipski vs. Karine Silva
  • Jhonata Diniz vs. Austen Lane
  • Tim Means vs. Uros Medic

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

  • Victor Henry vs. Rani Yahya
  • Michal Figlak vs. Austin Hubbard
  • Caio Machado vs. Don’Tale Mayes
  • David Onama vs. Jonathan Pearce
  • Marnic Mann vs. Ketlen Souza
  • Gabe Green vs. James Llontop
  • Liang Na vs. Ivana Petrovic
  • Gabriel Benitez vs. Maheshate

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 55.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Jan. 1-7)

All the UFC 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.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 1-7.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Dec. 11-17)

All the UFC 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.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Dec. 11-17.

Joel Alvarez ready for return to top 15 after UFC London win over Marc Diakiese

Joel Alvarez got a controversial submission win over Marc Diakiese after a head clash at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.

LONDON – [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] beat Marc Diakiese with a second-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.

Take a look inside the fight with Alvarez, whose submission came not long after Diakiese complained about head clash for which he didn’t get a recovery timeout.

UFC Fight Night 224 post-event facts: Multiple perfect records ruined in London

Check out all the facts and figures from UFC Fight Night 224, which saw several fighters suffer their first career or octagon defeat.

The UFC made its 15th stop in London on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 224, which went down at The O2. It was the longest event of the year so far.

Many of the 15 fights on the docket went to decisions, but one man who didn’t need the judges was [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who effortlessly ran through [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 11-7 UFC) for a first-round TKO in his return from a lengthy injury layoff.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 224.

UFC Fight Night 224 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Four fighters take home $16,000

UFC Fight Night 224 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

LONDON – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $225,000.

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 224 took place at the The 02. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 224 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Paul Craig[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Andre Muniz[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Fares Ziam[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Josh Culibao[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Jonny Parsons[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Danny Roberts[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jamal Pogues[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Makhmud Muradov[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Bryan Barberena[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Ketlen Vieira[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Chris Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yanal Ashmoz[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Bruna Brasil[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Shauna Bannon[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Jafel Filho[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Daniel Barez[/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 2241 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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,780,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $19,369,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

UFC Fight Night 224 video: Joel Alvarez submits Marc Diakiese after accidental clash of heads

An accidental headbutt led to the fight-ending sequence for Joel Alvarez.

LONDON – An accidental headbutt led to the fight-ending sequence for [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag].

After a back-and-forth first round on the feet, Alvarez (20-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Marc Diakiese (16-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC) hit the mat in Round 2. However, with less than a minute left in the round, Alvarez capitalized on an accidental clash of heads by moving in for the kill. Diakiese was visibly hurt, and couldn’t fend off Alvarez’s D’Arce choke which came at the 4:26 mark of Round 2 Saturday at The O2.

Check out the replay of Alvarez’s finish below (via Twitter):

Alvarez returned to the win column after seeing his four-fight winning streak snapped by Arman Tsarukyan in his past outing. 17 of the Spanish fighter’s 20 professional wins have come by submission.

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Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 224 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

Joel Alvarez def. Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Joel Alvarez’s second-round submission win over Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag]’s second-round submission win over [autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)

Joel Alvarez, Daniel Barez discuss MMA growth in Spain, impact of Ilia Topuria, potential UFC event in 2024

Spain’s Joel Alvarez and Daniel Barez reflect on the growth of MMA in their country.

Spain has long been in the lower tier of European countries represented in the UFC, but that’s starting to change, and quite rapidly.

The name [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] stands out the most when thinking of Spanish MMA. After all, Topuria is in the top five of the UFC’s official featherweight rankings, he’s undefeated, and on the brink of a title shot against champion Alexander Volkanovski.

However, there’s more going on. In 2022, the UFC partnered with La Liga, Spain’s professional soccer league, to cross-promote content. Plus, promising lightweight [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] returns this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 224 along with recent UFC signee [autotag]Dani Barez[/autotag]. Both obviously represent Spain.

All of this has been accompanied by massive growth in the Spanish MMA fanbase.

Ahead of Saturday’s event in London, Alvarez and Barez spoke to MMA Junkie about the state of MMA in their homeland.

Joel Alvarez aware of Marc Diakiese’s ‘drastic change’ to wrestler, but hopes for standup fight at UFC Fight Night 224

Joel Alvarez is prepared for the wrestling threat, but hopes to get into a striking battle with Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224.

[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]’s style has evolved plenty over the years, and his upcoming opponent [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] is well aware of that.

The two lightweights are scheduled to fight this Saturday on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. Alvarez (19-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is hoping for a striking battle, as he wants to put a show for the fans in his first fight in over a year, but knows that likely won’t be the reality of the situation with this version of Diakiese (16-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) in 2023.

“I hope to get Marc the striker, so we can do a striking fight the both of us,” Alvarez told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “But yeah, it is true that he’s been doing well, and he’s been winning fights using his wrestling. It’s a drastic change that he’s made. I assume at some point in the fight he’ll use his wrestling. We’ve trained for that and prepared for that a lot.”

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Alvarez is unsure why Diakiese shifted to a wrestling-based attack, as he found his striking to be good. Regardless, he respects the threat that Diakiese poses to win a fight, even if it’s lost some of its flashiness.

“Yeah, there’s been a very drastic change, but it’s helped him win fights,” Alvarez said. “There’s no denying he’s a less spectacular Marc, I’d say, but if he’s winning fights with that, then that’s his thing.”

Alvarez hasn’t fought since losing to top contender Arman Tsarukyan back in February 2022. Entering the fight with Tsarukyan, Alvarez was in the UFC’s official top 15 rankings at lightweight.

The 30-year-old doesn’t think a win over Diakiese will put him back in the top 15, given his absence from the octagon, but could set him up so that his next fight is for a spot in the rankings.

“I don’t think so,” Alvarez said. “At the end of the day, I’ve been inactive for a year and a half. I would need to get on a winning streak again. But there are sites out there, not the official one from UFC, but these sites have me between 15 and 20. That’s where everyone seems to put me. And I think that helps, the fans always see me in that area.

“I think a good win over Marc, if it doesn’t put me in the rankings, it sets me at 16. I’m right there. But I’m only worried about winning the fight. That’s what I came here to do.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.