Tag: Lucas Rocha

UFC Fight Night 244 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Brad Tavares gets $21,000 in record bout

UFC Fight Night 244 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 244 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $186,000.

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 Fight Night 244 took place at the UFC Apex. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 244 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tatsuro Taira[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]JunYong Park[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Chidi Njokuani[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Rafa Garcia[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Ramazan Temirov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]CJ Vergara[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jonathan Pearce[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Themba Gorimbo[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Niko Price[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Junior Tafa[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Sean Sharaf[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Julia Polastri[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Cory McKenna[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Cody Haddon[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Clayton Carpenter[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Lucas Rocha[/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 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,630; 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 $32,000 while title challengers get $42,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-63 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,488,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $29,225,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

UFC Fight Night 244 video: Clayton Carpenter cuts open Lucas Rocha before choking him out

After taking a 20-month layoff, Clayton Carpenter returned to action at UFC Fight Night 244 and scored a violent win against Lucas Rocha.

After taking a 20-month layoff in the aftermath of his octagon debut, [autotag]Clayton Carpenter[/autotag] returned to action Saturday at UFC Fight Night 244 and put on a violent performance against [autotag]Lucas Rocha[/autotag].

It was largely one-way traffic for Carpenter (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the flyweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He got top position on Rocha (17-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the opening round and landed a big elbow to open up a nasty cut. Then, in the next frame, he took the back of his opponent and locked in a deep rear-naked choke for the technical submission finish at the 2:12 mark of Round 2.

Check out the replay of the overwhelming finish from Carpenter below (via X):

With the win, Carpenter keeps his undefeated record in tact, while Rocha fell short in his promotional debut.

“My performance was pretty on point,” Carpenter said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “It took me a second to get calibrated, but I did my thing.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

[vertical-gallery id=2778064]

[vertical-gallery id=2778061]

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 5-11)

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.

Fresh Ink: Meet the 14 fighters the UFC signed in October 2023

Find out who joined the UFC in October and learn more about them here.

The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.

Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, “Dana White’s Contender Series” signees, or rare straight-up additions. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.

“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.

Check out the October 2023 list below.

DWCS 66 winner Lucas Rocha knew he ‘just had to weather the storm’ before highlight reel KO

Lucas Rocha had to battle some early adversity before finishing Davi Bittencourt at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Lucas Rocha[/autotag] had to battle some early adversity before finishing [autotag]Davi Bittencourt[/autotag] at Dana White’s Contender Series 66.

Rocha (17-1) came from behind to score a highlight reel knockout of Bittencourt (14-4) in their bantamweight bout Tuesday to earn a UFC contract. Before landing the brutal knee knockout, Rocha had his back taken in Round 1 and was battling to fend off Bittencourt’s rear-naked choke attempts.

But Rocha remained calm.

“I trained this over and over, same scenario with my coaches … so I wasn’t really surprised,” Rocha told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter during the DWCS 66 post-fight news conference. “I just had to weather the storm, and I knew my time would come.”

There was some heat between Rocha and Bittencourt heading into the fight due to Rocha missing weight in their first scheduled bout last week, which was scrapped. Rocha explained what went wrong.

“The week I didn’t make the weight was the worst travel week I’ve had,” Rocha said. “We had 18 hours, then we got stuck in the plane, there was a storm, I couldn’t eat what I needed to eat, I couldn’t drink water, I couldn’t rest. It was literally a nightmare. I just had to make adjustments to actually be able to fight this week

[lawrence-related id=2687111]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 66.

Dana White’s Contender Series 66 results: Record amount of UFC contracts eclipsed in Season 7 finale

Season 7, Week 10 of Dana White’s Contender Series goes down Tuesday, and MMA Junkie will have live results from on-site at the UFC Apex.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie reported from Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series 66 event.

Dana White’s Contender Series cards see prospects fighting for the opportunity to sign a UFC deal, with promotion CEO Dana White on hand to make the decisions at the UFC Apex. Tuesday’s episode was the 10th and final of the show’s seventh season.

White was once again in a generous mood as he eclipsed the previous record of 43 as he offered contract Nos. 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 on the season. Five of the six winners received UFC deals: bantamweight Lucas Rocha, lightweight [autotag]Marquel Mederos[/autotag], featherweight [autotag]Connor Matthews[/autotag], flyweight [autotag]Andre Lima[/autotag], and bantamweight [autotag]Ramon Taveras[/autotag] this week.

The lone fighter who did not receive a contract was middleweight [autotag]Torrez Finney[/autotag], a physical specimen who finished [autotag]Yuri Panferov[/autotag] by second-round rear-naked choke.

White said Finney needed more time to develop and that he’d be doing the fighter a disservice by bringing him into the UFC now.

Additionally, White announced Taveras’ UFC debut – a rare move due to rare circumstances. Taveras will rematch [autotag]Serhiy Sidey[/autotag], a fighter he lost to in controversial fashion due to a premature stoppage earlier in the season.

Full results of Dana White’s Contender Series 66 include:

  • Ramon Taveras def. Cortavious Romious via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:29
  • Andre Lima def. Rickson Zenidim via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
  • Connor Matthews def. Jair Farias via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
  • Torrez Finney def. Yuri Panferov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:43
  • Marquel Mederos def. Issa Isakov via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 4:09
  • Lucas Rocha def. Davi Bittencourt via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 0:18

Continue reading below for more details about each fight.

DWCS 66 video: Lucas Rocha blasts opponent with knee for comeback knockout

Lucas Rocha got the season finale of Dana White’s Contender Series started with an incredible comeback finish.

[autotag]Lucas Rocha[/autotag] had to overcome some adversity, but it made his knockout finish that much sweeter.

In the first bout of Dana White’s Contender Series 66 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Rocha (17-1) faced Davi Bittencourt in a bantamweight clash with a potential UFC contract on the line. Bittencourt (14-4) made a strong showing in the first round with a smothering grappling game, but his fortunes quickly reversed just 18 seconds into Round 2.

After giving up a lot of control time and fighting off submissions in the first round, Rocha knew he had to change things quickly in the second round. Ready for inevitable takedown attempt, Rocha timed a beautiful right knee up the middle as Bittencourt shot in. As a result, Bittencourt faceplanted to the canvas for a devastating knockout.

Check out video of the finish below (via X):

Rocha has now won six straight, a streak that includes five finishes. It was also a moment of redemption for the Brazilian, who was originally scheduled to complete at DWCS 65, but missed weight, causing the bout to be rebooked.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420030788]

 

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 roster filling up for summer 2023 launch

Dana White’s Contender Series will return this summer. Check out the fighters and fights that have been booked thus far.

Dana White’s Contender Series, Season 7 is in the works.

DWCS debuted in 2017 with an eight-episode inaugural season. Season 2 was held in 2018 with eight episodes, followed by a three-episode DWCS: Brasil. In 2019, DWCS was extended to 10 episodes for its third season. The length was repeated in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Each season, the number of fighters signed has increased. Thus far, the show has produced UFC notables including Sean O’Malley, Maycee Barber, Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, Sodiq Yusuff, Jamahal Hill, Taila Santos, Johnny Walker, Alex Perez, Bo Nickal, Jailton Almeida, Jack Della Maddalena, and Marina Rodriguez among others.

In recent weeks, the UFC matchmakers have been gearing up for a summer DWCS return, expected to launch Aug. 8. Athletes and matchups have slowly but surely been booked. The number of episodes for Season 7 is not yet known.

Scroll below to see the latest athletes and fights booked, which have been confirmed by MMA Junkie or posted about by the fighters involved. This list will be updated as more fighters and matchups come to light.