Noche UFC video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the Noche UFC winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

LAS VEGAS – Noche UFC took place Saturday with 11 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

You can hear from all the Noche UFC winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

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

Josefine Knutsson def. Marnic Mann at Noche UFC: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Josefine Knutsson’s unanimous decision win over Marnic Mann at Noche UFC at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Josefine Knutsson[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Marnic Mann[/autotag] at Noche UFC at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Photos by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports; MMA Junkie; and UFC)

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Sept. 4-10)

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 Sept. 4-10.

Noche UFC fight card hit with changes as debutants save two matchups

The Noche UFC lineup has faced nine withdrawals thus far, with two newcomers plugging the latest openings.

The UFC’s Mexican Independence Day card has faced many edits since it was announced and the changes keep on coming.

In recent days, two fighters have withdrawn from Noche UFC, scheduled for Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That’s the bad news. The good news is that replacements have been sought. Rising prospects [autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Marnic Mann[/autotag] have signed with the promotion and filled the short-notice openings.

Campbell (8-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will face Alex Reyes (13-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a lightweight bout, replacing [autotag]Natan Levy[/autotag]. As for Mann (6-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), she replaces an injured [autotag]Iasmin Lucindo[/autotag] and faces fellow newcomer [autotag]Josefine Knutsson[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a strawweight fight. The two bouts will kick off the preliminary portion of the card.

The Campbell vs. Reyes booking was first reported by Eurosport NL.

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As he enters his promotional debut, Campbell has a resume that includes fights for Bellator, CFFC, and Dana White’s Contender Series among other banners. His fight on DWCS in 2022 was a knockout loss, but one of the most improbable in the series’ history. After he rocked Chris Duncan all over the cage, Campbell was knocked out in an all-time comeback. Since the defeat, he’s 1-0 with one TKO.

Like Campbell, Mann too lost on DWCS by knockout in 2022. While she was head kicked into defeat by Bruna Brasil in that fight, Mann reentered the win column with a unanimous decision win over Amber Brown for LFA 157 in April.

With the changes, the Noche UFC lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champion Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for women’s flyweight title
  • Jack Della Maddalena vs. Kevin Holland
  • Terrence Mitchell vs. Raul Rosas Jr.
  • Christos Giagos vs. Daniel Zellhuber
  • Kyle Nelson vs. Fernando Padilla

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Loopy Godinez vs. Elise Reed
  • Josh Fremd vs. Roman Kopylov
  • Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda
  • Tracy Cortez vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
  • Charlie Campbell vs. Alex Reyes
  • Josefine Knutsson vs. Marnic Mann

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

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Aug. 28-Sept. 3)

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 Aug. 28-Sept. 3.

Fresh Ink: Meet the 30 fighters the UFC signed in August 2023

Find out who joined the UFC in August 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 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.

Check out the August 2023 list below.

Dana White’s Contender’s Series 59: Grading the winners

MMA Junkie fight analyst Dan Tom takes a closer look at the performances of the four winners from Dana White’s Contender Series 59.

Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2023) took place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the four-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex.

With a simple but digestible format that has had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders the UFC matchmakers can use to fill their roster for future events. With that trend in mind, I once again will be taking a look at the winning fighters, regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, and grading their performances in regard to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.

Dana White’s Contender Series 59 results: Three winners receive UFC deals; one does not

Season 7, Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series continues Tuesday, and MMA Junkie will have live results from on-site at the UFC Apex.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie was at Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 59 event.

Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting at the UFC Apex for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with promotion president Dana White on hand to make the decisions.

The third episode of Season 7 will see eight fighters compete for their shot at a UFC contract. A middleweight contest between [autotag]Eli Aronov[/autotag] (6-1) and [autotag]Zach Reese[/autotag] (5-1) served as the featured bout of the four-bout lineup. Fury FC’s Reese quickly submitted Unified MMA’s Aronov with an armbar.

In the co-featured bout, Cage Warriors’ [autotag]Obain Elliott[/autotag] and Okatgon’s [autotag]Kaik Brito[/autotag] went blow-for-blow in a thrilling three-round battle.

Full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 59 include:

  • Zachary Reese def. Eli Aronov via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 1:14
  • Oban Elliott def. Kaik Brito via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
  • Josefine Knutsson def. Isis Verbeek via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Luis Pajuelo def. Robbie Ring via TKO (knee and punches) – Round 1, 3:43

Continue reading below for more details about each fight.

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 roster filling up for summer 2023 launch

Dana White’s Contender Series will return this summer. Check out the fighters and fights that have been booked thus far.

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 is in the works.

DWCS debuted in 2017 with an eight-episode inaugural season. Season 2 was held in 2018 with eight episodes, followed by a three-episode DWCS: Brasil. In 2019, DWCS was extended to 10 episodes for its third season. The length was repeated in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Each season, the number of fighters signed has increased. Thus far, the show has produced UFC notables including Sean O’Malley, Maycee Barber, Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, Sodiq Yusuff, Jamahal Hill, Taila Santos, Johnny Walker, Alex Perez, Bo Nickal, Jailton Almeida, Jack Della Maddalena, and Marina Rodriguez among others.

In recent weeks, the UFC matchmakers have been gearing up for a summer DWCS return, expected to launch Aug. 8. Athletes and matchups have slowly but surely been booked. The number of episodes for Season 7 is not yet known.

Scroll below to see the latest athletes and fights booked, which have been confirmed by MMA Junkie or posted about by the fighters involved. This list will be updated as more fighters and matchups come to light.