Joselyne Edwards has missed weight in her past three wins. Saturday, it cost her a $50,000 bonus.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] beat Tamires Vidal with a third-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 245 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Edwards, who has won four of her past six fights – but has missed weight in her past three wins. Saturday, it cost her a $50,000 bonus.
“I feel good. I did exactly what I worked on in the training camp, all the techniques. I was confident in my work, but I was not underestimating my opponent. I tried to put it all together. The game plan was to attack the body and keep it in close range, use the jab as much as I could, and take her down and look for the submission. I tried to do that in the first round, but I couldn’t get it, so I didn’t go crazy for it. But in the third round, when I saw the opportunity, I locked it down.”
Edwards on her weight miss
Joselyne Edwards
“As a woman, I have biological circumstances, and this time around … I couldn’t control it. I went to do my weight cut to the (UFC Performance Institute) at 4 a.m. My body basically stopped sweating. I was not sweating at all until 9:30. Someone from the PI advised me to get out of the sauna because my body was going to shut down and the fight was going to end up being canceled. I’ve got to check on my body and I’m going to check what’s going on with those biological circumstances that I have.”
Edwards on what she wants next
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 19: (L-R) Joselyne Edwards of Panama kicks Tamires Vidal of Brazil in a bantamweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
“I wanted to fight in December, but I’ll check my body. I’m going to go to Panama. I’m going to visit my family. I want to keep my weight lower. … I want to come back as soon as I can.”
To hear more from Edwards, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program has now paid out more than $29 million to athletes since its deal began with Venum.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 245 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $155,500.
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 Fight Night 245 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 245 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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 2451 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:
“UFC Fight Night 245: Hernandez vs. Pereira” – $155,500
Joselyne Edwards says things aren’t fully settled with former rival Ailin Perez.
The beef wasn’t fully settled between [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] and [autotag]Ailin Perez[/autotag].
Although Perez and Edwards hugged it out after their women’s bantamweight bout at UFC 302 in June, the two aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye. Edwards, who lost by unanimous decision, had a buildup with Perez that involved weeks of trash talk, which stemmed from an altercation at the UFC Performance Institute.
All that bad history can’t be put away by a simple hug, at least according to “La Pantera.”
“She’s the one that asked for the hug, she can say whatever she wants, but it’s on camera,” Edwards told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “She asked for it, and then told me that everything that she did was for show, that this was just for show, everything that happened outside the octagon, all the trash talk. So she said let’s be cool, and asked me if she could hug me, and I said OK.
“Look, this is the fight game, we have to hit each other, but I don’t think you have to be on bad terms outside the octagon. However, with her, things are different. To be honest, I can’t say never, but I don’t think things will ever be good between us. If I see her, I’ll say hi from afar, but I don’t want to have communication or a friendship with her. I think she has bad vibes, and I don’t like being around those people. She did beat me in a decision. I can’t change that, but that’s it. She’s got her life, I got mine, and I don’t want to know anything about that girl.”
Edwards (13-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) returns to the octagon at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 245 against Tamires Vidal (7-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC). The fight was originally scheduled for bantamweight, but Edwards missed weight by three pounds Friday morning.
Edwards is focused on Vidal, but she wants to eventually run things back with Perez. She knows she has work to do, as Perez is on a streak and recently entered the UFC official rankings, but she’s confident she’ll eventually be back in a position where the fight makes sense.
“One hundred percent,” Edwards said about wanting a rematch with Perez. “Look, I’m focused on my things. I’m going to win my fight and then the next one. I see she’s doing well, and I’m glad she’s doing well because I want to fight with her again.
“It’s better for me that she wins all her fights, that she enters the rankings, that people have her as a title contender, because I’m coming for her. Out of all the people who I’ve lost to, the only one I want a rematch with, it’s her. I’m coming for her.”
Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 302 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $218,500.
NEWARK, N.J. – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 302 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $281,500.
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 302 took place at Prudential Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The full UFC 302 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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:
Check out the best photos from Ailin Perez’s unanimous decision win over Joselyne Edwards at UFC 302 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Ailin Perez[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] at UFC 302 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (Fight and venue photos by Joe Camporeale, USA Today Sports)
UFC 302 is filled with plenty of big fights, yet the bout with the most heat and bad blood is flying under the radar.
UFC 302 is filled with plenty of big fights, yet the bout with the most heat and bad blood is flying under the radar.
On the preliminary card of Saturday’s event in Newark, N.J., [autotag]Ailin Perez[/autotag] and [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] will finally get to throw down after months of trash talk online and a heated incident that left both with a sour taste. The beef between Perez (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Edwards (13-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) didn’t start long after the two first met.
According to Edwards, a common friend reached out to her to see if she could help Perez get around Las Vegas, as it was her first time in in the city following her UFC debut in September 2022.
“When he told me his friend was Ailin Perez, I was like, ‘Hmm,” Edwards told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “She’s in my division, and the girl is problematic. I hadn’t seen her debut, which I think it was on short notice, but I had seen things online that the girl was problematic.
“Regardless, I said, ‘OK, I’m going to be a good person. I’m well mannered, and I’ve traveled the world and had difficulties and many people have guided me and helped me, so I said, ‘OK, yeah. Give her my number.'”
Edwards didn’t like Perez too much from what she saw on social media but obliged to lend her a hand when she could, letting her know how the UFC Performance Institute worked and even introducing her to her coaches at Xtreme Couture. Edwards admits she was a little distant with Perez, but she was respectful and helped her with whatever she needed. After Perez left Las Vegas, the two kept somewhat kept in contact and texted each other.
‘She attacked me because she’s jealous’
In April 2023, a few months after their initial meeting, Edwards fought and defeated Lucie Pudilova in a controversial split decision. She received plenty of hate online, but nothing bothered her more than reading Perez’s comments.
“They showed me some messages she wrote publicly, and that’s her opinion, that’s OK,” Edwards said. “Even after my last fights, she also commented and the way she does it, it’s like she wants to make it funny, but at the same time you’re talking sh*t. And that’s fine, that’s her opinion, but if you see me, don’t even come say hi because that’s being a hypocrite.”
Perez admits criticizing Edwards’ decision win but said she was just answering questions and did it in an analytical manner. Regardless, that didn’t sit well with Edwards, and their differences hit a boiling point a few months later in November when they saw each other again at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.
“I ran into her at the PI, and she was like, ‘Hey, how are you? Come here and say hi,'” Edwards said as she recalled the moments before the brawl broke out. “I don’t like that hypocrisy. I told her, ‘Hey, just win your fight because you talk a lot of sh*t. You have a big mouth.’
“She was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ She didn’t remember the things she said. I told her, ‘You said this and that,’ and she said, ‘Well, that’s my opinion.’ OK, that’s her opinion, but here you are trying to give me a hug and say hi to me, idiot.”
Edwards didn’t think the animosity between them would end up in a fight, and she was surprised to find herself trading blows with Perez and her coach.
“I promise you my intention was not to fight her,” Edwards said. “It was her trainer who began to heat things up and insult me. So what happened? She was like, ‘Well, if you’re so tough, come say it to my face.’
“My intention wasn’t to hit her. I just went to say it to her face, so when I get close – we’re arguing – she makes a movement like she’s going to hit me, so I hit her. But she’s the one that made the first move.”
Both women claim the other attacked first. Perez was left with a cut on her cheek bone that required stitches and almost jeopardized her fight with Pudilova, which was just a few days away.
“She attacked me at the UFC PI where I was doing my fight week to fight against Lucie (Pudilova) – which I take as a coward move to go and hit someone who’s with their team and their son,” Perez told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “She didn’t need to be there. It’s my moment, my space. She attacked me because she’s jealous.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CzuDOTVyb-H/
‘He was choking me’
Both Edwards and Perez acknowledge Perez’ male trainer got involved soon after the two started fighting. Perez said it was to stop Edwards from attacking her, and Edwards said it was to gang up on her.
“He was choking me, and it wasn’t just to hold me. He was hurting me and trying to choke me out,” Edwards explained. “I fell forward on top of Ailin with her trainer on my back, and Alex Davis, trainer of Amanda Ribas, he saw everything. … If two people are arguing, OK. But you as a trainer, you have to split things up. She has a fight, but instead he joined the fight. So he ended up on my back and wouldn’t let me go, so she (Ailin) got taken off me or ran out. I don’t remember well, and she went to security.
“So anyway, Ailin wasn’t at the scene, and he was choking me saying, ‘B*tch, I’m going to put you to sleep. B*tch I’m going to put you to sleep.’ … Alex told him to let me go, I was about to go to sleep, but he kept choking me, so Alex and I think Amanda Ribas’ dad took him off me. I could barely breathe. He tried coming at me again, but they stopped him.”
Perez went on to fight and defeat Pudilova that weekend in one of her best career performances. The UFC was made aware of the brawl but didn’t proceed with any disciplinary action. Instead, just a few months later, Perez and Edwards received contracts to fight each other professionally.
“This is going to be my highest paid career fight against the easiest opponent, so I’m extremely happy for that,” Perez said.
“Now she’s going to get what she deserves. I’m training with a different purpose, which is to get revenge on her for injuring my eye. Either way, I already beat her mentally. I won that fight with an injured eye, and I felt like Maradona.”
Perez wasn’t the only one happy with the booking. Edwards was delighted to hear she had drawn Perez as her next opponent.
“I never had her in mind, but after the incident I wanted to fight her,” Edwards said. “… I had asked for it in an interview, but I never said anything to the UFC. Then my manager called me saying I got offered Ailin Perez and I said, ‘You can even sign the contract. You know that’s a yes for sure.’ I think UFC wanted to put it together.”
The two haven’t crossed paths much throughout fight week now that they’re fighting this Saturday at UFC 302. The UFC, trying to avoid any incidents, assigned special security for both fighters and made sure their schedules didn’t cross paths.
The first time Perez and Edwards got up close since their heated brawl at the UFC PI was during Friday’s faceoffs at the UFC 302 ceremonial weigh-ins. And as expected, the tension was high.
In a sport where many feuds are often fabricated for promotion and sales, Perez and Edwards put meaning behind the UFC’s “as real as it gets” motto. No matter what happens Saturday, both Perez and Edwards have assured that their beef won’t be squashed.
“No, she’s a criminal,” Perez said when asked if things could be settled after UFC 302.
“On my end, it’s also the same,” Edwards said. “I don’t plan on touching or even looking at her after the fight. The only contact we’re going to have is the strikes she’s going to take during the fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302.
Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights 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, PFL, and Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Feb. 5-11.
Commentators were left in disbelief when judges awarded Joselyne Edwards the win over Lucila Pudilova.
Commentators were left in disbelief when judges awarded [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] the win over [autotag]Lucila Pudilova[/autotag].
Edwards defeated Pudilova by split decision in their catchweight bout at UFC on ESPN 44 in April – a decision which was debated by many. All 15 media members who logged in their scores on MMA Decisions scored the fight in favor of Pudilova, with two even having it 30-27.
Pudilova scored a takedown just over a minute into Round 1, but wasn’t able to mount too much offense in top position. With less than a minute remaining in the round, Edwards popped back up and made Pudilova pay with a barrage of punches on the break. Considering that Edwards spent the majority of the round on her back, Pudilova should have been awarded the opening frame. Surprisingly, all three judges gave Edwards Round 1.
Edwards kicked off Round 2 with a clear advantage on the feet. But a minute and a half into the round, Pudilova took her down and dominated her on the ground. Pudilova ended the round in full mount raining down punches, in what was a clear round for her. All three judges agreed.
Heading into Round 3, commentators on duty Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier were confident that Pudilova was up two rounds. They suggested that Edwards needs a finish in order to win. Edwards did a good job of keeping the final round on the feet and even outstruck Pudilova, which gave her Round 3 on two of the judges’ scorecards.
Judge Ross Swanberg scored it 29-28 Edwards, judge Henry Guery scored it 29-28 Pudilova, and judge David Huyette scored it 29-28 Edwards. According to MMA Decisions, this was the first time judges Swanberg and Huyette submit a UFC scorecard, both who scored the fight for Edwards.
This was the first time that both judges who scored the bout for Edwards have submitted a completed scorecard for a UFC bout per @MMADecisionshttps://t.co/COLYTPLIvm
Considering that Pudilova had two takedowns and over seven minutes of control time, it’s hard to score the fight for Edwards. Edwards had her moments on the feet, but nothing significant enough to win her rounds where she was held down for a good portion.
According to UFC Stats, Pudilova was outstruck overall 90-74, which shouldn’t be a large enough margin to sway the judges against her. That’s why Edwards vs. Pudilova is MMA Junkie’s 2023 Robbery of the Year.
Prior to UFC Fight Night 232, Ailin Perez was allegedly involved in a scuffle with Joselyne Edwards.
LAS VEGAS – Prior to UFC Fight Night 232 on Saturday, [autotag]Ailin Perez[/autotag] was allegedly involved in a scuffle with [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag].
Perez (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) defeated Lucie Pudilova by unanimous decision in their bantamweight bout at the UFC Apex to close out an eventful week for the Brazilian.
Although she didn’t mention Edwards’ name, Perez claimed she was jumped by her fellow fighter at the UFC Performance Institute during fight week.
“Pretty much I’m someone just like everyone else,” Perez told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at the UFC Fight Night 232 post-fight news conference. “I don’t have a problem personally with anyone. What I did was I stated my opinion online about the fight. I didn’t disrespect anyone, I didn’t talk about about anyone.
“But this irrelevant lady came up to me after I was opinionated about one of her fights, just talking about the performance that she did. And she came to assault me. She did assault me with the intention to make me pull out of my fight, but I’m sorry, she did not achieve it. I won and fought regardless of the assault that took place.”
Perez also claimed that it was her coach who peeled Edwards off her, thanking him for saving her fight against Pudilova.
“I want to thank my coach, who was there at the time of the assault because if it wasn’t for him, I would have had much worse injuries because he was able to take her off me when she was assaulting me,” Perez said. “And the fight probably would have been off if it wasn’t for my coach, who saved me.”
In a statement provided to MMA Mania, Edwards had a different side to the story. The Panamanian fighter claims it was Perez’s coach who instigated the physical fight.
“While we were fighting, her coach attacked me from behind,” Edwards said. “He was strangling me, so that Ailin would hit me. Her coach attacked me. I practically had to fight two of them. He did not protect anyone, he started the fight.
“He was the one who heated things so that the fight would take place, and then he attacked me and was strangling me. Later, when they had already separated me from Ailin, he was still strangling me and did not want to let me go. He never separated the fight, he attacked me while she attacked me.”
A third witness, notable MMA manager Alex Davis, told MMA Mania a detail that was left out by both sides.
“I was sitting on the large octagon inside of the PI looking at my phone when I heard yelling to my right,” Davis said. “When I approached the cage, I saw Ailin and her coach on top of Joselyn, so jumped in to break up the fight. When I went to help out and saw the male coach choking Joselyn with a rear-naked choke, and it was very deep – he was cranking on the choke.
“If the choke was held on for much longer, it would have been a terrible scene. I’m not sure if she was fully unconscious, but she was close. When I got the coach off of Joselyne, the coach was ranting and yelling, trying to continue to fight. I was trying to calm Joselyne down because she thought she was still fighting.”
Davis took to X to reveal that he was confronted by Perez’s coach after sharing his account of the story.
This is the truth from the point that I was involved. I just ran into Javier Oyarzabal at the event hotel. This guy confronted me with his group of friends trying to call me a liar, trying to scare me! You are a coward, you have no business being among us! I am told old to be…
This is the truth from the point that I was involved. I just ran into Javier Oyarzabal at the event hotel. This guy confronted me with his group of friends trying to call me a liar, trying to scare me! You are a coward, you have no business being among us! I am told old to be fighting scumbags in hotel hallways! But fck you you asshole!!
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 226, such as Rose Namajunas being on the first true losing skid of her career.
The UFC’s second trip to Paris was another significant event for French MMA with UFC Fight Night 226 going down Saturday at Accor Arena.
Multiple French fighters on the card thrived, but none more than former interim UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC, who thrived in the main event with a second-round TKO of [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) to rebound from his loss against Jon Jones earlier this year.
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 226.
