MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for June: Sadibou Sy wheel kicks his way to PFL playoffs

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from June 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from June 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for June.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

UFC on ESPN 46 winner Manuel Torres dreams of future Islam Makhachev fight

After scoring a bonus-winning knockout of Nikolas Motta at UFC on ESPN 46, Manuel Torres dreams of an Islam Makhachev matchup.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag] spoke to the media after his UFC on ESPN 46 win.

Torres (14-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) answered questions from MMA Junkie and other media members after scoring a bonus-winning elbow knockout of Nikolas Motta this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Torres broke down the elbow finish, his desire to fight on the UFC’s Sept. 16 card and his dream matchups at lightweight.

Watch the video of Torres’ complete post-fight media availability above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.

UFC on ESPN 46 post-event facts: Jared Cannonier, Marvin Vettori set striking records in main event

The UFC on ESPN 46 main event between Jared Cannonier and Marvin Vettori set a new bar for strikes landed in a middleweight bout.

UFC on ESPN 46 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas proved to be a historic night.

The main event saw [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) emerge from a key matchup of former middleweight title challengers with a unanimous decision win over [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] (19-7-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) in which he set a new single-fight record for most significant strikes landed in a divisional contest.

The Fight of the Night delivered, but for more numbers on the entire card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 46.

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UFC on ESPN 46 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Marvin Vettori’s $16,000 tops card

UFC on ESPN 46 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 on ESPN 46 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $140,000.

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 46 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC on ESPN 46 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Joaquim Silva[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Armen Petrosyan[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Christian Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Lucas Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Alessandro Costa[/autotag]: $4,000
def [autotag]Jimmy Flick[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Kyung Ho Kang[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Cristian Quinonez[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Carlos Hernandez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Denys Bondar[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Tereza Bleda[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gabriella Fernandes[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,000
vs. [autotag]Ronnie Lawrence[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Zac Pauga[/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 $4,500; 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 $46,000 while title challengers get $46,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-46 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $3,790,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $18,379,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.

UFC on ESPN 46 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC on ESPN 46 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

LAS VEGAS – UFC on ESPN 46 took place Saturday with 12 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 on ESPN 46 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.

UFC on ESPN 46 video: Manuel Torres’ perfect elbow takes out Nikolas Motta

Manuel Torres landed an elbow knockout that will live on the highlight reels for years to come against Nikolas Motta at UFC on ESPN 46.

[autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag] landed an elbow knockout that will live on the highlight reels for years to come against [autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag] at UFC on ESPN 46.

In the first round of their lightweight fight on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Torres (14-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) winded up with the perfect left elbow that landed clean on the face of Motta (13-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who went flying to the mat and was out cold less than two minutes into the opening round.

The shot was as clean as it gets, and UFC commentator Paul Felder called it “the most beautiful elbow knockout I’ve seen inside the octagon.”

Check out the replay of the finish below (via Twitter):

Mexico’s Torres became the latest fighter from his country to make waves inside the cage, and he made a pitch for history after a spectacular win, which was his 12th first-round stoppage out of 13 career victories.

“I want a second bonus,” Torres told Felder through an interpreter during their post-fight interview. “I want to be the first Mexican to get two bonuses.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 46.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (April 24-30)

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.

Manuel Torres medical issue scraps Trey Ogden fight at UFC on ESPN 43

A fight from the UFC on ESPN 43 preliminary card has been scrapped the day before the event.

SAN ANTONIO – A fight from the UFC on ESPN 43 preliminary card has been scrapped the day before the event.

The lightweight fight between [autotag]Trey Ogden[/autotag] (16-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and [autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is off following a medical issue for Torres. UFC announcer Brendan Fitzgerald announced the fight’s removal from the card at the end of the UFC on ESPN 43 official weigh-ins.

UFC on ESPN 43 takes place Saturday at AT&T Center in San Antonio. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.

A UFC official told MMA Junkie Torres’ medical issue was not related to his weight cut. The card will proceed with 11 bouts.

The 28-year-old Torres, from Mexico, has won four straight fights. He earned a shot in the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 with a first-round knockout. In his promotional debut in May 2022, he knocked out Frank Camacho in the first round.

Ogden came to the UFC in 2022 on the heels of a Fury FC lightweight title win in 2021. He dropped a split decision to Jordan Leavitt in his promotional debut, but bounced back this past September with a decision over Daniel Zellhuber.

It is not yet known if the UFC will keep the fight intact and move it to a future event or if the fighters will be rebooked against new opponents later.

With the cancellation, the UFC on ESPN 43 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen
  • Holly Holm vs. Yana Santos
  • Nate Landwehr vs. Austin Lingo
  • Maycee Barber vs. Andrea Lee
  • Manel Kape vs. Alex Perez
  • Albert Duraev vs. Chidi Njokuani

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4:30 p.m. ET)

  • Tucker Lutz vs. Daniel Pineda
  • Lucas Alexander vs. Steven Peterson
  • Trevin Giles vs. Preston Parsons
  • Daniel Da Silva vs. CJ Vergara
  • Victor Altamirano vs. Vinicius Salvador

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 43.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 27-March 5)

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 Feb. 27-March 5.

Photos: UFC on ESPN 36 weigh-ins and faceoffs

Check out these photos of the UFC on ESPN 36 official weigh-ins and faceoffs in Las Vegas.

Check out these photos of the UFC on ESPN 36 official weigh-ins and faceoffs at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. (Photos by Ken Hathaway, MMA Junkie)