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Joshua Van won for the eighth straight time and got his first finish in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 234. Now he’s eyeing a quick ascension.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag] beat Felipe Bunes with a second-round TKO Saturday to open up the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Van, who won for the eighth straight time and got his first finish in the UFC.
Analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC Fight Night 234, including a potential Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev title fight.
What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 234, which saw Jim Miller grow his all-time wins record and add more history to his resume.
The UFC returned from its holiday hiatus on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and although it wasn’t the most stacked lineup, UFC Fight Night 234 delivered seven stoppage results out of 11 bouts.
In the main event, Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) produced definitive closure on his rivalry with Johnny Walker (21-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC), scoring a second-round knockout in their light heavyweight rematch to potentially set himself up for a championship opportunity.
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 234.
UFC Fight Night 234 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 234 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $159,500.
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 234 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 234 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Jim Miller[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Gabriel Benitez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Brunno Ferreira[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Phil Hawes[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Andrei Arlovski[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Preston Parsons[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Matthew Semelsberger[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gaston Bolanos[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jean Silva[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Westin Wilson[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tom Nolan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Felipe Bunes[/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 2341 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:
Year-to-date total: $159,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $22,866,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
22-year-old Joshua Van continues to show great promise after stopping Felipe Bunes by second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 234.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag] overcame another slow start at UFC Fight Night 234 to secure the stoppage against [autotag]Felipe Bunes[/autotag].
After a rather uneventful opening round of the flyweight bout at the UFC Apex, which marked the first UFC fight of 2024, Van (10-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) started putting together slick combinations to the head and body that started to ware on Bunes (13-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC).
A flurry of punches and knees led to the knockdown, then Van pounded on Bunes until referee Mark Smith had seen enough and called it off for a TKO at the 4:31 mark of Round 2. Check out a replay of the final sequence below (via X):
Joshua Van picks up the first finish of 2024 💪 #UFCVegas84 pic.twitter.com/Zo9XH1IzSO
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 13, 2024
At 22 and with only a little more than two years of experience, Van continues to show he has a bright future in the sport and 125-pound weight class, especially considering he took the fight on short notice.
“We knew he was going to be tough in the first round,” Van told Michael Bisping in his post-fight interview. “The second round we got it done. We stuck to the game plan in the second round and got it done.”
Still unbeaten 👊
Joshua Van moves to 3-0 in the UFC! #UFCVegas84 pic.twitter.com/F350NTOEBG
— UFC (@ufc) January 13, 2024
Van has landed 100 or more significant strike in all three of his UFC wins to date. He’s been busy in the cage, and said he wants to keep it up with a loaded 2024.
“I want to stay active this year,” Van said. “I want to fight at least four to six fights this year. Dana White, please give me a fight. I want to fight next week. Let’s go.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 234 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 234 took place Saturday with 11 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 234 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
The UFC’s 2024 campaign will soon kick off – and the first card of the year has experienced a makeover.
The first UFC event of 2024 has been hit with multiple lineup changes.
UFC Fight Night 234 takes place Jan. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+. The lineup currently sits at 13 fights.
Over the past three days, however, that number has fluctuated with three withdrawals and two additions, as follows:
Nineteen indefinite suspensions were handed out after UFC 295, per the New York State Athletic Commission.
UFC 295 took place Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York and featured 13 fights.
On Monday, MMA Junkie acquired a list of athlete medical suspensions from the New York State Athletic Commission, the sanctioning body that oversaw the event. Most injury specifics were not disclosed.
Nineteen of the 26 combatants were given indefinite suspensions and will need to be cleared by a doctor before they return. That’s a high number of indefinite suspensions compared to the average UFC event, although the NYSAC may have different safety protocols compared to other regulatory bodies. All 26 fighters were also given mandatory suspensions, which vary from seven days to 90 days.
Check out the full list of medical suspensions from UFC 295 below.
Joshua Van entered the UFC with a 100 percent finish rate but has earned decisions in his first two octagon appearances.
NEW YORK – [autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag] shined at UFC 295, but he didn’t get the finish he was looking for.
Myanmar’s Van (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) defeated Kevin Borjas (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Van entered the UFC with a 100 percent finish rate, but his first two octagon wins have come by decision.
“I’m feeling great, but at the same time I feel a little bit of disappointment,” Van told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “Because last time I told you guys I was going to get the finish. We didn’t get the finish, so I guess next time for sure.”
Van had Borjas hurt to the body multiple times but said he was too tentative throughout the fight.
“The thing is I was trying to time his timing,” Van said. “I was trying to get his timing right. So, I think I waited too long and that’s what got me messed up in the fight. Next time I’ll push the pace from the start to the finish.”
Having competed five times in 2022, and just twice in 2023, Van would love it if he could return as soon as possible.
“What’s next for me is they told me I’ve got to wait seven days to fight, so I want to fight next week,” Van said. “But I want to stay as active as possible, you know, while I’m young.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.
The best facts from UFC 295, which saw Alex Pereira join the two-division title club in less fights than the eight names before him.
The UFC’s penultimate numbered event of the year, UFC 295 from Madison Square Garden in New York, proved to be arguably the best of the bunch.
Two new champions were crowned to close out a lineup that saw eight stoppages in 13 fights. In the main event, [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) picked up the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag] (29-4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), while [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) claimed the interim heavyweight strap in the co-main event with a 69-second knockout of [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] (17-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC).
For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 295.
