Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
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 June 13-19.
The Colts activated LB Malik Jefferson from the COVID-19 list on Monday.
The Indianapolis Colts activated linebacker Malik Jefferson from the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced Monday.
Jefferson was placed on the reserve list last week when the Colts had a number of players get hit by the virus. Most of them have come back from the list since the league changed its protocols.
Jefferson has been on the practice squad for the entire season before being called up on Dec. 15.
The Colts also announced that quarterback James Morgan and tight end Eli Wolf have been restored to the practice squad from the practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list.
Long snapper Kyle Nelson was released from the practice squad after filling in for starter Luke Rhodes, who was placed on the COVID-19 list just before the Week 17 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Colts made a slew of roster moves, including the activation of QB Carson Wentz from the COVID-19 list.
The Indianapolis Colts made a slew of roster moves ahead of the Week 17 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, the team announced Saturday.
A mix between activations from the COVID-19 list and call-ups from the practice squad, the Colts made a handful of roster moves. In the case of Carson Wentz, he is not fully out of the woods yet.
The Colts had to activate Wentz in order to have him available for Sunday’s game. If he tests out of the league’s protocol on Sunday morning, he will start against the Raiders.
Before the Colts look to clinch a playoff berth for the second year in a row, here are the roster moves they made ahead of the Week 17 matchup:
Despite three missed kicks in Week 11, the Cardinals will continue to go with Beau Brinkley as the replacement long snapper while Aaron Brewer is out.
After long snapper Aaron Brewer was placed on injured reserve for a fractured arm, they initially signed Kyle Nelson to the practice squad to replace him. However, he got hurt in his first practice and landed on the practice squad injured reserve and the team signed Beau Brinkley to replace him.
It appears the Cardinals will move forward with Brinkley.
On Tuesday’s NFL transactions report, it noted that the Cardinals had terminated the practice squad contract of Nelson. His knee injury apparently is better and the Cardinals will stick with Brinkley.
Brinkley remains on the practice squad but has been protected by the team this week, so he cannot be signed by any other team to their roster.
At the end of the week, he will be either signed or elevated to the active roster for Sunday’s game.
Hopefully, things go better this week than against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 11. Kicker Matt Prater missed three kicks — two field goals and an extra point — and the snap was a factor in two of them.
With a full week of practice for this game, that should get cleaned up.
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The Vikings have struggled on special teams and the team has two more tryouts with special teams players.
The Vikings have been thriving on offense and defense lately, en route to three victories in a row. However, there is another phase of the game, and that one has kept opposing teams competitive.
Minnesota’s special teams has been so bad recently that it has swung games in its opponents’ favor. In the Bears game, the Vikings gave up a kick return for a touchdown. There were also plenty of other mistakes in different areas of special teams.
Against the Lions, the Vikings gave up two blocked punts. In the game before that, the team had a bad snap on a field goal, but the group still managed to make the kick.
Minnesota has found creative ways to struggle on special teams throughout the win streak, so it makes sense that the Vikings are bringing players in to improve that unit. Here is the team’s latest tryout list:
The 49ers had four long snappers in for workouts after Kyle Nelson struggled vs. the Giants.
49ers long snapper Kyle Nelson in Sunday’s win over the Giants had some issues getting snaps to holder Mitch Wishnowsky. His struggles only wound up costing San Francisco one point, but head coach Kyle Shanahan said it’s not something the club will take lightly.
In response to Nelson’s performance, the 49ers on Tuesday had in four long snappers for workouts, including Andrew DePaola, Taybor Pepper, Garrison Sanborn and Drew Scott according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
Sanborn spent three games with the 49ers last season. He was one of three long snappers the team used while Nelson was suspended for the first six games.
There’s no guarantee the club moves on from Nelson, who they liked enough to sign to a four-year extension last offseason. However, if he’s unable to fix whatever issue led to his poor snapping Sunday, they certainly won’t hesitate to go a different direction at the position.
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The 49ers may move on from long snapper Kyle Nelson according to head coach Kyle Shanahan.
[jwplayer wlKImuIe-ThvAeFxT]
Perhaps the only rough spot in San Francisco’s 36-9 victory over the New York Giants was long snapper Kyle Nelson and his inability to get the ball to holder Mitch Wishnowsky on field goals and extra points. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said the team hasn’t made a decision yet on what to do at long snapper, but they’ll work out some players at that spot this week.
The 49ers botched an extra point Sunday because of a low snap from Nelson and would’ve done so with another had it not been for a facemask penalty on the Giants when they tackled Wishnowsky in the post-snap scramble.
Shanahan said he spoke with Nelson on Monday, and was complimentary of the nine-year veteran before saying the club would be searching for a possible replacement.
“Kyle’s had an unbelievable career. He’s been a great 49er. He’s been a great teammate. I’ve loved Kyle in these three years that I’ve gotten to know him and he’s been great for us,” Shanahan said. “So, I know it was a really bad day. I just told him that, you know, fortunately it didn’t cost us anything. It wasn’t an issue in the game because of how the rest of the game went. We were able to still get a W, but he understands this business. He understands how the league works and we’re going to bring in some guys tomorrow, work them out. We’ll see how they look and then we’ll decide what’s the best for us going forward.”
Reserve offensive tackle Justin Skule handled the long snapping duties on San Francisco’s final extra point try, but Shanahan dismissed the idea of Skule taking on that responsibility full time.
This is the second consecutive season San Francisco has had long snapper issues. Nelson was suspended for 10 games late in the 2018 season and missed the final four games that year, and the first six of the 2019 campaign. While they waited on Nelson’s return, the 49ers cycled through Colin Holba, Jon Condo and Garrison Sanborn in the games before Nelson was back in the lineup.
The 49ers signed Nelson to a four-year extension last offseason worth $4.54 million with $450,000 guaranteed. While he did recently ink an extension, it’s not the kind of deal that would prevent the 49ers from moving on.
This is something San Francisco has to work out quickly. The bad snaps didn’t affect them Sunday, but not having a reliable player at that spot in close games would present a potential game-changing problem for the 49ers.
UFC on ESPN+ 35 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that launched after the UFC’s deal with Reebok.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 35 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $137,000.
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 on ESPN+ 35 took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire card streamed ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN+ 35 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Michelle Waterson[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag]: $10,000
[autotag]Ottman Azaitar[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Khama Worthy[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Ed Herman[/autotag]: $20,000
[autotag]Mike Rodriguez[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag]: $15,000
[autotag]Alan Patrick[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Billy Quarantillo[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Kyle Nelson[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Julia Avila[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Sijara Eubanks[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Roosevelt Roberts[/autotag]: $5,000
[autotag]Kevin Croom[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Alexandr Romanov[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Roque Martinez[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Brok Weaver[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Bryan Barberena[/autotag]: $10,000
[autotag]Anthony Ivy[/autotag]: $3,500
[autotag]Sabina Mazo[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Justine Kish[/autotag]: $5,000
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:
Year-to-date total: $4,429,500
2019 total: $7,370,500
2018 total: $6,901,000
2017 total: $6,295,000
2016 total: $7,138,000
2015 total: $3,185,000
Program-to-date total: $35,434,000
Billy Quarantillo needed just seven seconds to put away Kyle Nelson in the third round of their fight at UFC on ESPN+ 35.
[autotag]Billy Quarantillo[/autotag] needed just seven seconds to put away [autotag]Kyle Nelson[/autotag] once the third round of their featherweight fight started Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 35.
Quarantillo was getting the best of Nelson as the action wore on in the matchup at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The momentum was all on his side after 10 minutes, but he wasted no time finishing things off.
A blistering 1-2 combination from Quarantillo did the job, immediately hurting Nelson and putting him face down on the canvas. Check out the replay below (via Twitter):
MERE SECONDS INTO RD 3 🤯@BillyQMMA with a BRUTAL walk-off KO!
[ #UFCVegas10 – LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/9TYGVJP4F7
— UFC (@ufc) September 13, 2020
With the win, Quarantillo’s hot start to begin his UFC career continued. He submitted Jacob Kilburn in his debut in December, outpointed Spike Carlyle in his sophomore effort in May, and now has an octagon knockout to his name at the expense of Nelson.
After the fight, Quarantillo called everything that’s happening “a dream come true.”
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Check out our staff members’ picks for the UFC on ESPN+ 35 main card in Las Vegas.
| Waterson vs. Hill |
Azaitar vs. Worthy |
Lee vs. Modafferi |
Herman vs. Rodriguez |
Nelson vs. Quarantillo |
|
| MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 2020: 91-58 |
 Waterson (52%) |
 Worthy (64%) |
 Lee (61%) |
 Rodriguez (66%) |
 Quarantillo (84%) |
| Nolan King @mma_kings 2020: 103-46 |
 Hill |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Dan Tom @DanTomMMA 2020: 102-47 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 2020: 101-48 |
Hill |
 Azaitar |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Simon Head @simonhead 2020: 99-50  2019 Champion* |
Waterson |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 2020: 98-51 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Lee |
 Herman |
Quarantillo |
| Brian Garcia @thegoze 2020: 97-52 2017 Champion |
Hill |
Worthy |
 Modafferi |
Herman |
Quarantillo |
| Dave Doyle @davedoylemma 2020: 96-53 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Modafferi |
Herman |
Quarantillo |
| Simon Samano @SJSamano 2020: 96-53 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
 Nelson |
| Mike Bohn @MikeBohnMMA 2020: 96-53 2014 Champion |
Waterson |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 2020: 93-56 2018 Champion |
Hill |
Worthy |
Lee |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 2020: 92-57 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Modafferi |
Herman |
Nelson |
| John Morgan @MMAjunkieJohn 2020: 91-58 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Modafferi |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 2020: 89-60 |
Hill |
Worthy |
Modafferi |
Rodriguez |
Quarantillo |
| Matt Erickson @MMAjunkieMatt 2020: 62-87 |
Waterson |
Azaitar |
Modafferi |
Herman |
Nelson |
The UFC stays in Las Vegas this week with a key women’s strawweight bout at the top of the card.
UFC on ESPN+ 35 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag] (12-8 MMA, 7-8 UFC) becomes the first Black woman to headline a UFC card when she takes on [autotag]Michelle Waterson[/autotag] (17-8 MMA, 5-4 UFC). Hill is a slight favorite, but our 14 editors, writers, videographers and radio hosts have her with a big lead at 11-3.
In the co-main event, [autotag]Ottman Azaitar[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets slight favorite [autotag]Khama Worthy[/autotag] (16-6 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at lightweight, and despite the reasonably close odds, only two of our pickers are taking Azaitar in a mild upset.
Also on the main card, [autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) meets [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] (24-17 MMA, 3-5 UFC) in a women’s flyweight bout. Lee is the biggest favorite on the main card at more than 3-1, but our pickers nearly are split down the middle. Lee has just an 8-6 lead in the picks.
[autotag]Ed Herman[/autotag] (24-14 MMA, 12-10 UFC) is a +200 underdog at light heavyweight against [autotag]Mike Rodriguez[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC), but he’s got his fair share of underdog pickers. Rodriguez has a 9-5 picking edge.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Kyle Nelson[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has three pickers taking him in a featherweight upset against [autotag]Billy Quarantillo[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC).
(Note: The lightweight fight between Bobby Green (26-10-1 MMA, 7-5-1 UFC) and Alan Patrick (15-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was added to the main card too late for our picks deadline.)
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Waterson (52 percent), Worthy (64 percent), Lee (61 percent), Rodriguez (66 percent) and Quarantillo (84 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
