Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”
There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?
“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.
So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:
Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from February 2020.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from February 2020: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Submission of the Month” award for February.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
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The Nominees
Daniel Rodriguez def. Tim Means at UFC on ESPN+ 25
[autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) rose to the occasion in his UFC debut, taking out Tim Means (29-12-1 MMA, 11-9 UFC), a 21-fight veteran of the organization, in the second round of their welterweight bout.
After battering Means on the feet and putting him in serious danger of a knockout, Rodriguez changed his attack to a standing guillotine choke. It went in deep, and shortly thereafter Means tapped and the fight was over.
[autotag]Alex Polizzi[/autotag] (6-0) scored his ticket to a Bellator contract by claiming the LFA light heavyweight title with a submission finish of Jamal Pogues (7-3) in the championship rounds.
Although submissions decrease in likelihood later into fights, Polizzi snatched the leg of Pogues in the early stages of the fourth round and locked in a heel hook. Pogues tapped out, and Polizzi remained undefeated in his young career.
Georgi Karakhanyan def. Paul Redmond at Bellator Europe 7
In his return to the lightweight division, [autotag]Georgi Karakhanyan[/autotag] (29-10-1 MMA, 7-8 BMMA) picked up a much-needed win against Paul Redmond (15-9 MMA, 2-1 BMMA).
After going on a three-fight drought, Karakhanyan had an entertaining battle with Redmond before locking in a guillotine choke in the early stages of the round to finish the fight and get his hand raised for the first time in 21 months.
Jimmy Crute def. Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC on ESPN+ 26
[autotag]Jimmy Crute[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) rebounded from the first loss of his career with an impressive finish of Michal Oleksiejczuk (14-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in their light heavyweight matchup.
Crute put his sizable ground advantage to use when he put Oleksiejczuk on his back and synched in a Kimura to elicit the tap in just over three minutes.
Jordan Griffin def. TJ Brown via guillotine choke at UFC on ESPN+ 27
Just when it seemed he was not going to get the finish, [autotag]Jordan Griffin[/autotag] (18-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) choked TJ Brown (14-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) out cold.
Attempting to lock in a guillotine choke from bottom position, Griffin’s attempt to finish the fight appeared that it would be unfruitful. Seconds later, though, the fight was over and Griffin had his first UFC win.
"If you're extremely strong, maybe you can get it, but I doubt it."
After going 0-2 with two unanimous decision losses to kick off his octagon tenure, Griffin needed to get his hand raised in order to ensure his future with the organization.
He did just that, and in slick fashion, no less.
Griffin went for a usual guillotine choke while on bottom, which cageside commentator Michael Bisping wrote off as having any real chance of finishing the fight. He was wrong, however, because Griffin was able to finish the fight with a useful technique.
“I love that choke – that’s one of my go-to submissions,” Griffin said. “When you hook that in over the shoulder, it’s almost impossible to escape. People think they can circle around because their legs are free, but that actually makes it tighter. As soon as I locked it in, I knew it was over and that he was out. That’s my black belt killer right there.”
Take a look inside Jordan Griffin’s submission win over TJ Brown at UFC on ESPN+ 27 in Norfolk, Va.
NORFOLK, Va. – [autotag]Jordan Griffin[/autotag] beat TJ Brown with a second-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN+ 27 in Norfolk, Va.
Take a look inside the fight with Griffin, who snapped a two-fight skid to start his UFC career for his first win in the promotion.
Result: Jordan Griffin def. TJ Brown via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:38 Updated records: TJ Brown (14-6 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Jordan Griffin (17-7 MMA, 0-2 UFC) Key stat: Brown outstruck Griffin 92-20 and landed seven takedowns, but got caught in a crazy finish when Griffin choked him out with a guillotine from side control.
Griffin on the fight’s key moment
“I love that choke – that’s one of my go-to submissions. When you hook that in over the shoulder, it’s almost impossible to escape. People think they can circle around because their legs are free, but that actually makes it tighter. As soon as I locked it in, I knew it was over and that he was out. That’s my black belt killer right there.”
Griffin on listening to his coaches
“I feel like I finally broke the ice getting my first UFC win, and now you’re going to see a better me in the future. I had nerves in the first one. In the second one against Chas Skelly, I should have knocked him out instead of shooting so much. This one, I did what I was supposed to do and listened to my coaches. They told me to stay calm, so that’s what I focused on because I’m usually pretty wild out there.”
Griffin on what he wants next
“I feel like this is just me evolving, so in the future I’m just going to keep getting better. Now, I’m going to go visit the (UFC) Performance Institute and get all the tests done to get my priorities straight and make sure I’m doing this thing as well as I can do it.”
To hear more from Griffin, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
All the notable stats and figures to come out of UFC on ESPN+ 27, which saw Deiveson Figueiredo beat Joseph Benavidez in the main event.
The UFC returned to Virginia for the fifth time in company history on Saturday with UFC on ESPN+ 27, which went down at Chartway Arena in Norfolk and streamed on ESPN+.
A new flyweight champion should’ve been crowned in the main event. However, despite knocking out [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) in the second round of the headliner, [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) was ineligible to take home the gold because he missed weight.
For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for 35 post-event facts to come out of UFC on ESPN+ 27.
[autotag]Megan Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Griffin[/autotag], [autotag]Kyler Phillips[/autotag] and [autotag]Gabriel Silva[/autotag] earned $50,000 UFC on ESPN+ 27 fight-night bonuses.
UFC on ESPN+ 27 drew an announced attendance of 7,098 for a live gate of $402,958.
Betting favorites went 6-6 on the card.
Betting favorites fell to 4-2 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 1:36:08.
Main card
Deiveson Figueiredo
Figueiredo has earned 15 of his 18 career victories by stoppage.
Figueiredo has earned four of his five UFC stoppage victories by knockout.
Benavidez became the seventh fighter in UFC history to go 0-3 in title fights.
Benavidez has suffered both of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
[autotag]Felicia Spencer[/autotag] (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has earned six of her eight career victories by stoppage. That includes both of her UFC wins.
[autotag]Zarah Fairn[/autotag] (6-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of her career.
[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]’s (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) four-fight UFC winning streak at light heavyweight is tied with Jon Jones for the longest active streak in the division.
Ankalaev has earned all three of his UFC stoppage victories by knockout.
[autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag] (15-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
Megan Anderson
Anderson’s (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) three victories in UFC women’s featherweight competition are second most in divisional history behind Cris Cyborg (four).
Anderson’s three stoppage victories in UFC women’s featherweight competition are most in divisional history.
Anderson’s two knockout victories in UFC women’s featherweight competition are tied with Cyborg for most in divisional history.
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had her four-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of her career.
[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has earned 14 of his 15 career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]Darrick Minner[/autotag] (24-11 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered 10 of his 11 career victories by stoppage.
Preliminary card
Gabriel Silva vs. Kyler Phillips
Silva (8-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has suffered consecutive losses after starting his career 8-0.
Silva has suffered both of his career losses by decision.
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned 13 of his 14 career victories by stoppage. That includes both of his UFC wins.
[autotag]Tom Breese[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) fell to 1-1 since he moved up to the UFC middleweight division in May 2018.
Breese suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
[autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (10-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.
[autotag]Steve Garcia[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered three of his four career losses by decision.
[autotag]TJ Brown[/autotag] (14-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered six of his seven career losses by stoppage.
[autotag]Spike Carlyle[/autotag] (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned eight of his nine career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]Aalon Cruz[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage.
Cruz suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
[autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned both of his UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Ismail Naurdiev[/autotag] (19-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered both of his UFC losses by decision.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
Thoughts and analysis on the biggest storylines to come out of UFC on ESPN+ 27, where Deiveson Figueiredo won the main event by TKO.
What mattered most at UFC on ESPN+ 27 in Norfolk, Va.? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. The flyweight mess
The UFC flyweight division endured its worst-case scenario with [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) stopping [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) with strikes in the second round of the main event, thus keeping the title vacant because the Brazilian missed weight by 2.5 pounds for the contest, making him ineligible to claim the belt.
Figueiredo is a good fighter and went out there and performed as he needed to under the circumstances, but his win puts the weight class in a troublesome state going forward. From Day 1, when one of the inaugural 125-pound bouts between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall was improperly scored, the weight class has not gotten off the ground in a way anyone had hoped.
From Johnson’s inability to get over with the casual audience, to Henry Cejudo’s decision to relinquish the strap, to this situation with Figueiredo, it’s been challenge after challenge. The UFC has as good an excuse as ever now to put the death blow on the weight class and dissolve it all together, but I don’t think that will happen just yet. Only time will tell, though.
UFC on ESPN+ 27 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that launched after the UFC’s deal with Reebok.
NORFOLK, Va. – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 27 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $119,500.
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 on ESPN+ 27 took place Saturday at Chartway Arena. The entire card streamed ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN+ 27 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Reebok’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 $3,500 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,000; 6-10 bouts get $5,000; 11-15 bouts earn $10,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $15,000; and 21 bouts and more get $20,000. Additionally, champions earn $40,000 while title challengers get $30,000.
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 2020 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
“UFC on ESPN+ 27: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo” – $119,500
Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 27 event in Norfolk, Va.
While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a UFC win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.
Inside, see what the fighters from UFC on ESPN+ 27 went with as their backing tracks in Norfolk, Va.
Kyler Phillips and Gabriel Silva had a combined one previous UFC fight between them, but that didn’t stop them from taking home postfight bonuses.
If you didn’t know the names [autotag]Kyler Phillips[/autotag] and [autotag]Gabriel Silva[/autotag] before UFC on ESPN+ 27, you should commit them to memory now.
The bantamweights had a combined one career UFC fight between them heading into Saturday night’s show in Norfolk, Va. But UFC post-fight bonuses are eligible to everyone on the card, and Phillips and Silva once again proved the bonus system to be egalitarian.
The duo put on an exciting scrap, and while the debuting Phillips earned across-the-board scores for his performance, Silva showed plenty of heart and tenacity in defeat.
And that was enough to earn both competitors $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
Meanwhile, two fighters put in strong efforts to earn themselves “Performance of the Night” awards in [autotag]Megan Anderson[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Griffin[/autotag].
Anderson stated her case for a shot at featherweight champion Amanda Nunes with a first-round knockout of Norma Dumont. Griffin had a second-round submission finish.
It was the first career UFC post-fight bonuses for all four competitors.
The UFC announced an attendance of 7, 08 paying a gate of $402,958 at Chartway Arena.
