Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
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 from Sept. 26-Oct. 2.
The UFC added 32 fighters to its roster last month. Find out who joined 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 the increasingly 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.
Scroll below to check out the 32 fighters the promotion inked in August 2022.
If not for a stroke of luck, Jose Johnson might not be a UFC fighter, but he doesn’t completely see it that way.
LAS VEGAS – If not for a stroke of luck, [autotag]Jose Johnson[/autotag] might not be a UFC fighter, but he doesn’t completely see it that way.
Competing in front of [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] for the fourth time, Johnson (15-7) was finally able to impress the UFC boss when he defeated formerly unbeaten Jack Cartwright on Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series 50. Afterward, Johnson was emotional during his interview with Laura Sanko.
“I fought so much to be here today,” Johnson said, trying to hold back tears. “People say because of my record that I shouldn’t be here. I’ve overcome some things that people don’t even understand. I went through team switches, divorce, everything. I lost custody of my kid. I’m fighting for it now. It’s just so much that happened. I’m just glad I could be here today talking to you.”
White doesn’t normally listen to Sanko’s interviews with DWCS winners so as not to be influenced by what he hears, but he said he happened to put on his headset while sitting cageside. What he heard apparently swayed White’s decision on Johnson.
“His interview got him the contract tonight, that’s it,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie. “The fight was weird. He beat a 10-0 kid, came here the second time, laid out. It’s easy to sit up here and f*cking yap about this and that. You don’t know where half these kids come from or what they go through or what it took for them to be here tonight. Well, he laid it out. He got me. I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to give him the opportunity. The rest is up to him.”
However, Johnson, who is on a three-fight winning streak, said it also has to do with the fact that he never stopped fighting despite various missed opportunities to sign with the UFC.
“I think it was a little bit of a combination of both,” Johnson told reporters. “He already knew the story. The story changed a lot since then, and he felt it, and he heard it, but then he also looked at the hard work that was put in behind it. A lot of people in the situation that I was put in would have just given up. After back-to-back losses in front of Dana White, they would have just put the gloves down. And me? I didn’t.”
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Check out these photos from Dana White’s Contender Series 50 in Las Vegas.
Check out these photos from the fights at Dana White’s Contender Series 50 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy of Joshua Hedges, UFC)
Dana White’s Contender Series is right around the corner. Check out 10 bantamweights who could be featured.
Dana White’s Contender Series has become a focal point for fighters on the regional scene. Since its inception in 2017, the UFC Fight Pass-turned-ESPN+ summer original removed some of the guesswork for up-and-comers trying to make it big.
With UFC president Dana White and matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby cageside, the stakes are high. Have an impressive, exciting win on the show, and you’re in.
Rumored for a late-June start date, DWCS Season 4 is almost here. The lineups haven’t been announced quite yet, but advanced planning is underway. While there are hundreds of fighters qualified to compete on the show, we’ll be narrowing each divisional pool to 10 fighters you should expect to see on the show this summer.
Up next, the bantamweights…
* * * *
Record: 11-5
Age: 24
Height: 6’0″
Birthplace: Flint, Mich.
In November 2019, [autotag]Jose Johnson[/autotag] made his presence felt with a single, vicious elbow. At LFA 78, Johnson took on Rafael Costa, a top Brazilian prospect. As the fight approached the two-minute mark, Johnson landed a clean elbow that flattened Costa to the ground. The brutal manner in which the fight ended created a big-time highlight – one that went viral in a matter of hours. The knockout was Johnson’s fifth in as many fights. Eight of his 11 victories have come inside the distance. The UFC brass stresses how much they enjoy exciting fighters on DWCS. Johnson fits the mold.
Record: 16-3
Age: 27
Height: 5’6″
Birthplace: France
[autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]’ four-fight UFC tenure ended in surprising fashion. The French fighter went 3-1 in the UFC from 2015-2016 with wins over Rocky Lee, Ulka Sasaki, and Leandro Issa. His lone promotional loss came to Erik Perez. A training partner of Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane under coach Fernand Lopez, Lapilus is angling for a 2020 UFC return. With French MMA legalization going into effect in February, Lapilus seems like a layup signing for a home-country UFC return. What better way to get his foot back in the door than DWCS?
The LFA’s debut event on UFC Fight Pass provided one of the most brutal knockouts you’ll ever see.
The LFA’s debut event on UFC Fight Pass provided one of the most brutal knockouts you’ll ever see.
LFA 78 took place Friday at Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas, and served as the first live event for the developmental promotion on its new broadcast home.
In the night’s co-main event, bantamweight [autotag]Jose Johnson[/autotag] (11-5) was defending a takedown from opponent [autotag]Rafael Costa[/autotag] (11-3) and unleashed a perfectly placed elbow that sent his foe crashing face-first into the canvas, where he was motionless for several tense moments.
There was some initial concern that the elbow might have been illegal, but replays showed it was delivered with absolute perfection. More importantly, Costa made a quick recovery, as well, and left the cage under his own power.
Check out the full fight in the video above. The finishing blow is delivered just after the 2-minute mark.
One of the most brutal elbows you'll ever see streamed live tonight on @UFCFightPass, courtesy of @LFAfighting's Jose Johnson.
Check out a full event replay here: https://t.co/0bfMsJqjE0 pic.twitter.com/2CrvC9L2Do
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) November 16, 2019
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
