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Check out the best photos from Julija Stoliarenko’s first-round submission win over Molly McCann at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag]’s first-round submission win over [autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
Analyzing Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 odds and lines between Molly McCann vs. Julija Stoliarenko with MMA picks, tips and predictions.
In a women’s featherweight bout on the main card, Molly McCann and Julija Stoliarenko meet Saturday at UFC Fight Night 224 at O2 Arena in London, England. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the UFC Fight Night 224: McCann vs. Stoliarenko odds, and make our expert picks and predictions.
The prelims are on ESPN+ at noon ET and the main card is on ESPN+ at 3 p.m. ET.
Watch this card with ESPN+ by signing up here.
Records: McCann (13-5-0) | Stoliarenko (10-8-2)
McCann is looking to bounce back after a 1st-round submission setback to Erin Blanchfield at UFC 281 in November. Prior to that, “Meatball” had picked up back-to-back KO/TKO wins while winning 3 straight fights overall, including a 1st-round pounding of Hannah Goldy in July 2022.
The Lithuanian-born Stoliarenko was knocked out by Chelsea Chandler last time out in October and is just 1-4 across her last 5 fights. Her lone win during the stretch was a 1st-round submission over Jessica-Rose Clark at UFC 276 in July 2022, showing that she can still be very dangerous.
Stoliarenko has a 4-inch reach advantage, while McCann has a decisive 5.72-to-2.75 significant strikes landed per minute advantage. In addition, the Briton is slightly more accurate at 53.16% with those strikes, compared to 51.69% for Stoliarenko. McCann also holds a 1.67-to-0.70 takedown average advantage, while Stoliarenko has a solid 1.17 submission average to just 0.52 for the favorite.
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Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 7:21 a.m. ET.
McCann (-225) will have a home crowd in London backing her, and that should be more than enough to tip the scales in her favor. Even so, risking more than 2 times your potential return in a standalone wager isn’t a great idea. I would consider McCann as part of my ticket as part of a multi-fighter parlay, but not straight up.
If you want to bet on this fight, consider METHOD OF VICTORY 5-WAY: MCCANN BY KO/TKO, DQ OR SUBMISSION (+125) for a much better value.
NO (+155): FIGHT TO GO THE DISTANCE? is a solid value at plus money.
If you’re a little less adventurous playing OVER 1.5 ROUNDS (-175) is worth a look although it’s still quite a bit of juice. I think McCann gets the stoppage, but Stoliarenko should be able to hang in there past the middle of Round 2.
Visit MMA Junkie for more fight news and analysis.
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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.
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Julija Stoliarenko is happy to finally be competing at her natural weight class.
LONDON – [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag] is happy to finally be competing at her natural weight class.
Stoliarenko (10-7-1 MMA, 1-5 UFC) makes her flyweight debut against Molly McCann (13-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 co-main event at The O2 in London. The event streams on ESPN+.
Stoliarenko got her ticket to the UFC through Season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter” as a featherweight. But Stoliarenko explained that competing at 145 pounds or a catchweight in the past was just based on the opportunities that were presented to her, not what she saw as a natural fit.
“Every time when I was stepping to featherweight, it was just because I wanted to get a fight,” Stoliarenko told reporters at Thursday’s UFC Fight Night 224 media day. “I just caught my opportunities, but it wasn’t because I was too big or big enough for featherweight. It was just catching opportunities. The same was with ‘Ultimate Fighter’ – it was in featherweight. That’s why I got here. I always was like a normal bantamweight and with time, my weight cut started to become easier and easier.
“The last three fights, I didn’t cut too much weight. Looking at my frame, I’m a typical flyweight. I never was the biggest bantamweight. We were always thinking with my coach about changing weight divisions, but we were looking at how to cut weight more, and my body just started to do that by itself. When the opportunity came, we were just like, ‘OK, let’s try that.’ If I can be a better fighter, I will be a better fighter at flyweight.”
Stoliarenko has struggled in her octagon tenure. Most recently, she was stopped with a first-round TKO in a short-notice, 140-pound catchweight bout against Chelsea Chandler. But after dropping four of her past five, the Lithuanian fighter is seeking new life at 125 pounds.
“If you look at my record, I’m pretty good at bantamweight,” Stoliarenko said. “I was a pretty good bantamweight. Featherweight, I was so-so. I hope I’m going to be even better at flyweight.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
Check out the numbers behind UFC Fight Night 224 in London where Paul Craig brings 205-pound records into his middleweight debut.
The UFC returns to London for the second time this year Saturday with UFC Fight Night 224, which takes place at The O2 with a card that streams entirely on ESPN+.
A matchup of ranked heavyweights serves as the main event. After suffering a blown-out knee against Curtis Blaydes last summer, England’s own [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) returns to action for another headlining act, this time against [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag] (24-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC).
For the numbers behind the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC Fight Night 224.
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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 April 24-30.
UFC fan favorite Molly McCann is coming home to England for her next fight.
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] is coming home for her next fight.
The fan-favorite UFC women’s flyweight is set to return to the octagon on July 22 as she’s been added to the UFC Fight Night event set for The O2 in London. McCann (13-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) takes on [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag], who’s dropping down from 135 pounds.
The fight booking was announced by the UFC on Tuesday.
McCann is looking to bounce back from a first-round submission loss to Erin Blanchfield last November at UFC 281. The loss to Blanchfield halted plenty of momentum for McCann, who was on a three-fight winning streak that included two highlight-reel, spinning elbow knockouts.
Stoliarenko (10-7-2 MMA, 1-5 UFC) is also looking to return to the win column. She’s 1-4 in her past five appearances. In her most recent fight back in October, Stoliarenko suffered a first-round TKO to Chelsea Chandler.
McCann vs. Stoliarenko is the first announced or confirmed fight booking for the UFC’s return to London, where the promotion held UFC 286 on March 18, which was headlined by welterweight champion Leon Edwards’ win over Kamaru Usman in the trilogy.
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UFC has paid out $6.5 million in Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay to its athletes this year after UFC Fight Night 211.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 211 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $164,500.
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 211 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 211 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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[autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Yan Xiaonan[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Randy Brown[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Raoni Barcelos[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Trevin Jones[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Sodiq Yusuff[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Don Shainis[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Mike Davis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Viacheslav Borshchev[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Daniel Santos[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]John Castaneda[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Aleksei Oleinik[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Joaquim Silva[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jesse Ronson[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Krzysztof Jotko[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Chelsea Chandler[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Guido Cannetti[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Randy Costa[/autotag]: $6,000
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 2117 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2111 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 2022 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $6,491,000
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $12,658,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 211.
At UFC 276, Jessica-Rose Clark indicated damage was done in between her tap and the referee’s official intervention.
UFC 276 was a quick night of work for [autotag]Jessica-Rose Clark[/autotag], but the 42-second submission loss took its toll.
Clark (10-8 MMA, 1-4 UFC) revealed Sunday surgery is likely to repair a left arm injury suffered in a visually gruesome submission loss to [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag](10-6-2 MMA, 1-4 UFC) in the preliminary card opener Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The finish came nearly immediately after the fight hit the canvas. Stoliarenko snatched an arm and torqued. While Stoliarenko appeared to let go upon the referees command, it was a second or two after the tap itself. By the time Chris Tognoni intervened and Stoliarenko let go, the damage was already done, indicated Clark.
With the loss behind her, Clark vowed to improve and come back better.
“Well, that sucked,” Clark said, as she sported an arm wrap and sling in an Instagram video. “I just got back from the hospital. I am probably going to need surgery on my elbow. She did a really good job of continuing to armbar me after I tapped, but that’s fine. It is what it is. I felt great. I cried the entire time I was at the hospital, but I’m feeling all right. I’m understandably heartbroken, but I did everything right this camp. I’m going to have this surgery and heal up and then come back and be better – and that’s all I can do.”
Check out Clark’s full statement in the video below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CfiG2OgAfyA/
The loss is the second in a row by armbar for Clark. Meanwhile, Stoliarenko picked up her first UFC win in her fifth attempt.
“If I get a submission, I’m going to snap it until people stop it,” Stoliarenko said in a post-fight news conference. “Of course I don’t want to injure my opponents, but it’s up to them when to tap. If she’s not tapping, I’m going to do my work.”
Check out the facts and figures to come out of UFC 276, where Alexander Volkanovski continued his epic run with a 22nd consecutive win.
The biggest UFC event of the year thus far took place Saturday with UFC 276, which went down at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and featured a plethora of notable names – none more so than a pair of champions from Oceania.
In the main event, [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) outpointed [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] (15-6 MMA, 8-6 UFC) for a unanimous decision to defend the middleweight title. That win came soon after [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) defended the featherweight title against [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] (23-7 MMA, 19-7 UFC) with another unanimous decision in their trilogy bout.
For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 276.
Check out the best photos from Julija Stoliarenko’s submission win over Jessica-Rose Clark at UFC 276.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag]’s submission win over [autotag]Jessica-Rose Clark[/autotag] at UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Photos by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
