The heavyweights delivered a high-octane battle on the UFC on ABC 1 prelims.
[autotag]Carlos Felipe[/autotag] and [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] could each very well walk away from UFC on ABC 1 with an extra $50,000 after the show they put on inside the cage.
Their heavyweight fight, which took place Saturday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, took place on the preliminary card. When the dust settled, it was Felipe who defeated Tafa by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
For the majority of three rounds, Felipe (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Tafa stood in the pocket. Both men swung major heat in a boxing-heavy affair. A close first round saw Tafa utilize his range and technical kickboxing. The body was a major target.
In Round 2, the high-octane portion of the fight commenced. Felipe and Tafa exchanged big shots, though neither hit the canvas. A major punch from Felipe battered Tafa’s left eye, but somehow the Australian survived. As the clock wound down, the two heavyweights threw defense out the window and swung in a wild, crowd-pleasing exchange.
Round 3 played out much like Round 2, with both fighters going for the finish. With less than 30 seconds on the clock, the heavyweights slugged it out with reckless abandon.
Tanner Boser is wasting no time in returning to the octagon.
[autotag]Tanner Boser[/autotag] is wasting no time in returning to the cage.
With [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] out, Canada’s Boser is expected to step in against [autotag]Raphael Pessoa[/autotag] on 10 days’ notice on the UFC’s July 25 card. The event takes place on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, also known as “Fight Island.”
No reason for Tafa’s departure is known at this time.
Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the targeted booking on Wednesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Boser (18-6-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) turned heads in his most recent outing on June 27 against former PFL heavyweight champion Phillipe Lins. In 2:41, Boser flat-lined Lins, winning in the first round by vicious knockout. The victory was his first finish in the UFC.
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Pessoa (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) most recently competed at UFC on ESPN+ 20 in October, picking up his first promotional victory: a unanimous decision over Jeff Hughes. Pessoa was rebooked for March in a fight against Tom Aspinall. However, he pulled out due to injury. He was then booked to fight Alexander Romanov in April, but the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the changes, the current July 25 lineup includes:
“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.
“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.
UFC president Dana White today announced the complete lineup for the four cards that will take place next month in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The unique setup has been necessitated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to get international fighters into the U.S. to compete.
“I think this is going to be a really unique experience, not just for the fighters, but for us,” UFC president Dana White said during the announcement. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be something different. It’s never been done before, and however long this thing goes on, and however long it’s hard to get people in from other countries, we will have these fights at ‘Fight Island’ – Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.”
First up, it’s UFC 251 on July 11, which features a trio of title fights.
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] – for welterweight title
Champ [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] – for featherweight title
[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] – for vacant bantamweight title
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]
[autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Paige VanZant[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]
[autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Makwan Amirkhani[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Henry[/autotag]
[autotag]Roman Bogatov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Leonardo Santos[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Alexander Romanov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]
[autotag]Raulian Paiva[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag]
[autotag]Vanessa Melo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Karol Rosa[/autotag]
[autotag]Martin Day[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]
Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige
The promotion then returns on July 15 with an event headlined by featherweight contenders [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC).
The complete lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET)
Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
[autotag]Frankie Edgar[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag]
[autotag]Carla Esparza[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag]
[autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY (7 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Vinicius Moreira[/autotag]
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Taila Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag]
[autotag]John Phillips[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dusko Todorovic[/autotag]
[autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]
[autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag]
Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo
Three days later, on July 18, the promotion hosts its third card in eight days, when top flyweight contenders [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) meet for a second time with the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line.
The full card includes:
MAIN CARD (9 p.m. ET)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez – for vacant flyweight title
[autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag]
[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag]
[autotag]Luana Carolina[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ariane Lipski[/autotag]
[autotag]Askar Askarov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Khadis Ibragimov[/autotag]
[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nad Narimani[/autotag]
[autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Joe Duffy[/autotag]
[autotag]Montel Jackson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brett Johns[/autotag]
[autotag]Aleksander Doskalchuk[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tagir Ulanbekov[/autotag]
[autotag]Davi Ramos[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]
[autotag]Carlos Felipe[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]
Darren Till and Robert Whittaker
Finally, the UFC’s run in Abu Dhabi ends on July 25 with a much-anticipated middleweight contest between former champion [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and former welterweight title challenger [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC).
That night’s full lineup includes:
MAIN CARD
Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
[autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag]
[autotag]Alex Oliveira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Peter Sobotta[/autotag]
[autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag]
[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Roberts[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]
[autotag]Raphael Pessoa[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag]
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mike Grundy[/autotag]
[autotag]Bethe Correia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]
[autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]
[autotag]Ramazan Emeev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shavkat Rakhmonov[/autotag]
[autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] and [autotag]Raphael Pessoa[/autotag] will fight as part of the UFC’s upcoming event on July 25 on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – also known as “Fight Island.” The event will be the fourth of four cards the promotion is holding in 14 days at the same location.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie on Thursday following an initial report from MMA DNA. The person asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Pessoa (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) also confirmed the bout on his Instagram page Thursday.
Australia’s Tafa (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has split two UFC appearances. After being knocked out in his promotional debut in his home country at UFC 243 in October, Tafa was on the opposite side of the equation in his second UFC bout. At UFC 247, Tafa finished Texas’ Juan Adams with strikes in Round 1.
Pessoa, too, was finished in his UFC debut. After the submission loss to Ciryl Gane, Pessoa rebounded at UFC on ESPN+ 20 in October, defeating former LFA heavyweight champion Jeff Hughes by unanimous decision.
Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes are facing short suspensions. Valentina Shevchenko, on the other hand, could be out for a while.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] battled for five rounds at UFC 247, but it seems they’ve come out relatively unscathed.
The pair of headliners each received a 31-day suspension, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation document obtained Tuesday. The Texas commission was responsible for regulating UFC 247, which took place at Toyota Center in Houston.
Conversely, UFC women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] is facing a potentially lengthy suspension after her third-round TKO victory over [autotag]Katyln Chookagian[/autotag] in the evening’s co-main event. According to the TDLR, Shevchenko is facing a 181-day suspension, while Chookagian was handed a potential 45-day term.
Two other winners, [autotag]Journey Newson[/autotag] and [autotag]Andre Ewell[/autotag], are also facing potential 181-day suspensions.
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Check out a full list of the UFC 247 medical suspensions below.
(Note: No specific injury details were given. It’s also important to note that, due to the lack of specific information, it’s unclear if any fighters have the ability to have their suspensions shortened if cleared by a doctor.)
[autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
[autotag]Khaos Williams[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
Andre Ewell: Suspended 181 days
[autotag]Domingo Pilarte[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
Journey Newson: Suspended 181 days
[autotag]Miles Johns[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]James Krause[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
Justin Tafa’s family had an emotional reaction to the heavyweight’s finish of Juan Adams at UFC 247.
There’s no better feel-good moment than watching the thrill of a fighter’s family in reaction to a win.
[autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] rebounded big from his first pro loss via knockout with a finish of his own when he took out Juan Adams in Round 1 of their heavyweight clash at this past weekend’s UFC 247 in Houston.
Tafa was knocked out in front of his friends and family in his UFC debut at UFC 243 in Melbourne, but he was able to redeem himself in emphatic fashion.
His family seemed to be very emotional, too, delivering an incredible reaction. What looked like 30 people in the home sounded like 300 roaring, as the “Tafa Gang” jumped for joy.
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.
Take a look inside Justin Tafa’s TKO win over Juan Adams at UFC 247 in Houston.
HOUSTON – [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] beat Juan Adams with a first-round TKO Saturday on the main card at UFC 247 in Houston.
Take a look inside the fight with Tafa, who got back in the win column after a first-round knockout loss at UFC 243 this past October in his promotional debut.
Result: Justin Tafa def. Juan Adams via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:59 Updated records: Tafa (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), Adams (5-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) Key stat: Tafa has all four of his pro wins by knockout.
Tafa on the fight’s key moment
“We’ve known Juan to like to throw long jabs and then he has a delay in his right straight, so it was something we knew I had to explore. I’ve got a lot of power in both of my hands and I knew it could at least give him a little rock, so I rocked him and he fell. I gave him a couple of hooks, let him stand up and I knew in his eyes he was gone. I just kept going to get the finish.”
Tafa on his first UFC win
“It feels good to get my first win in UFC. I got knocked out cold in front of a record attendance for a UFC event or any MMA event in my last fight. And to come back so shortly after, I wanted to prove something not only to the people, but to Polynesians, Samoans, Australians, that if you are battling with something, you just stand back up and run it back.”
To hear more from Tafa, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
The best facts and figures to come out of UFC 247, which saw Jon Jones defeat Dominick Reyes in the main event.
The UFC returned to Texas on Saturday with UFC 247, which took place at Toyota Center in Houston with a main card that aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
Two championship fights topped the card. In the main event, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) defended the UFC light heavyweight title by the skin of his teeth with a ultra-competitive unanimous decision win over [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), while [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) utterly dominated [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) en route to a third-round TKO in the co-main event.
Both fights for the gold provided some historic footnotes, but that’s not all the card had to offer. For more on the numbers, check below for 50 post-event facts to come out of UFC 247.
* * * *
General
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The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout for the event totaled $243,000.
UFC 247 drew an announced attendance of 17,401 for a live gate of $3,549,418.
Betting favorites went 6-5 on the card. One fight had even odds.
Betting favorites improved to 3-0 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:10:48.
Main card
Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes
Jones’ 14 victories in UFC championship fights are most in company history.
Jones’ 20 victories in UFC light heavyweight competition are the most in divisional history.
Jones’ 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak is the longest among active UFC fighters.
Jones 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak is the longest in company history.
Jones’ 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak in light-heavyweight competition is the longest active streak in the weight class and longest in divisional history.
Jones’ four-fight UFC winning streak at light heavyweight is tied with Corey Anderson for the longest active streak in the division.
Jones’ 1,835 total strikes landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are most in divisional history.
Jones’ 1,473 significant strikes landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are the most in divisional history.
Jones’ 42 takedowns landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are fourth-most in divisional history behind Anderson (53), Rashad Evans (50) and Ryan Bader (46).
Jones’ total fight time of 5:40:15 in UFC light heavyweight competition is most in divisional history.
Reyes had his 12-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
Valentina Shevchenko
Shevchenko’s two consecutive UFC women’s flyweight title defenses are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko improved to 5-0 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in February 2018.
Shevchenko’s five-fight UFC winning streak at women’s flyweight is the longest active streak in the division.
Shevchenko’s five victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko’s three stoppage victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind Gillian Robertson (four).
Shevchenko’s two knockout victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied with Maycee Barber for most in divisional history.
Shevchenko earned the eighth knockout in UFC history to stem from the crucifix position. Gary Goodridge, Matt Hughes, Dong Hyun Kim, Paul Kelly, Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier and Tyson Pedro also accomplished the feat.
Shevchenko has completed at least one takedown against nine of her 10 UFC opponents.
Chookagian fell to 4-2 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in January 2018.
Chookagian suffered the first knockout loss of her career.
Justin Tafa
[autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has earned all four of his career victories by knockout.
[autotag]Juan Adams[/autotag] (5-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has suffered three consecutive losses after starting his career on a five-fight winning streak.
Adams has suffered both of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]’s (13-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) five-fight UFC winning streak in featherweight competition is the fourth longest active streak behind Arnold Allen (seven), Zabit Magomedsharipov (six) and Alexander Volkanovski (six).
[autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career.
Bektic suffered the first decision loss of his career.
Derrick Lewis
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) 14 victories in UFC heavyweight competition are fourth-most in divisional history behind Andrei Arlovski (17), Frank Mir (16) and Junior Dos Santos (15).
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]’s (14-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) three-fight losing skid is the longest of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since February 2018.
Latifi was unsuccessful in his UFC heavyweight debut.
Preliminary card
Trevin Giles
Giles (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) improved to 2-2 since he dropped to the UFC middleweight division in December 2017.
Krause (27-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) has suffered three of his four UFC losses by decision.
[autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) improved to 3-1 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in December 2017.
[autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in her career.
Lee has suffered both of her UFC losses by split decision.
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) has suffered all three of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
[autotag]Miles Johns[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) had his 10-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
[autotag]Domingo Pilarte[/autotag] (8-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
[autotag]Andre Ewell[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has earned all three of his UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered both of his UFC losses by decision.
[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag] (8-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) earned the first decision victory of his career.
[autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag] (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his seven-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 247 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $243,000.
HOUSTON – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 247 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $243,000.
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 247 took place at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
The full UFC 247 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Reebok’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 $3,500 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,000; 6-10 bouts get $5,000; 11-15 bouts earn $10,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $15,000; and 21 bouts and more get $20,000. Additionally, champions earn $40,000 while title challengers get $30,000.
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 2020 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
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