UFC Fight Night 231 post-event facts: Jailton Almeida sets ground control time record

Check out all the facts from UFC Sao, which saw Jailton Almeida log a record amount of ground control time over Derrick Lewis in the main event.

The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo after more than four years proved to be a forgettable one on Saturday, with UFC Fight Night 231 seeing six of 10 bouts go the distance with three canceled fights in the 48 hours leading up.

One of the fights go to the scorecards was the main event, [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) earned a lopsided but somewhat underwhelming unanimous decision over [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (27-12 MMA, 18-10 UFC) to remain undefeated in heavyweight competition.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 231.

UFC Fight Night 231 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: 2023 total passes $7 million

UFC Fight Night 231 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

SAO PAULO – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $145,000.

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 231 took place at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Brazil. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 231 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Gabriel Bonfim[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Rodrigo Nascimento[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Don’Tale Mayes[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Elves Brener[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kaynan Kruschewsky[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Rinat Fakhretdinov[/autotag]: $4,500
vs. [autotag]Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Vitor Petrino[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Denise Gomes[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Eudarda Moura[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Montserrat Conejo[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Kaue Fernandes[/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 2311 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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $7,033,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $21,552,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

Marc Diakiese def. Kaue Fernandes at UFC Fight Night 231: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Marc Diakiese’s split decision win over Kaue Fernandes at UFC Fight Night 231 in Sao Paulo.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]’s split decision win over [autotag]Kaue Fernandes[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 231 at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. (Photos by Jason da Silva, USA TODAY Sports)

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Oct. 2-8)

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 or officially announced by the promotions from Oct. 2-8.

UFC Fight Night 224 post-event facts: Multiple perfect records ruined in London

Check out all the facts and figures from UFC Fight Night 224, which saw several fighters suffer their first career or octagon defeat.

The UFC made its 15th stop in London on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 224, which went down at The O2. It was the longest event of the year so far.

Many of the 15 fights on the docket went to decisions, but one man who didn’t need the judges was [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who effortlessly ran through [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 11-7 UFC) for a first-round TKO in his return from a lengthy injury layoff.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 224.

UFC Fight Night 224 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Four fighters take home $16,000

UFC Fight Night 224 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

LONDON – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 224 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $225,000.

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 224 took place at the The 02. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 224 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Julija Stoliarenko[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Paul Craig[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Andre Muniz[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Fares Ziam[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Josh Culibao[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Jonny Parsons[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Danny Roberts[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Mick Parkin[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jamal Pogues[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Makhmud Muradov[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Bryan Barberena[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Ketlen Vieira[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Chris Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yanal Ashmoz[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Bruna Brasil[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Shauna Bannon[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Jafel Filho[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Daniel Barez[/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 2241 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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,780,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $19,369,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

Joel Alvarez def. Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Joel Alvarez’s second-round submission win over Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag]’s second-round submission win over [autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)

Joel Alvarez aware of Marc Diakiese’s ‘drastic change’ to wrestler, but hopes for standup fight at UFC Fight Night 224

Joel Alvarez is prepared for the wrestling threat, but hopes to get into a striking battle with Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 224.

[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag]’s style has evolved plenty over the years, and his upcoming opponent [autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] is well aware of that.

The two lightweights are scheduled to fight this Saturday on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 224 at The O2 in London. Alvarez (19-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is hoping for a striking battle, as he wants to put a show for the fans in his first fight in over a year, but knows that likely won’t be the reality of the situation with this version of Diakiese (16-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) in 2023.

“I hope to get Marc the striker, so we can do a striking fight the both of us,” Alvarez told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “But yeah, it is true that he’s been doing well, and he’s been winning fights using his wrestling. It’s a drastic change that he’s made. I assume at some point in the fight he’ll use his wrestling. We’ve trained for that and prepared for that a lot.”

[lawrence-related id=2661191,2661129]

Alvarez is unsure why Diakiese shifted to a wrestling-based attack, as he found his striking to be good. Regardless, he respects the threat that Diakiese poses to win a fight, even if it’s lost some of its flashiness.

“Yeah, there’s been a very drastic change, but it’s helped him win fights,” Alvarez said. “There’s no denying he’s a less spectacular Marc, I’d say, but if he’s winning fights with that, then that’s his thing.”

Alvarez hasn’t fought since losing to top contender Arman Tsarukyan back in February 2022. Entering the fight with Tsarukyan, Alvarez was in the UFC’s official top 15 rankings at lightweight.

The 30-year-old doesn’t think a win over Diakiese will put him back in the top 15, given his absence from the octagon, but could set him up so that his next fight is for a spot in the rankings.

“I don’t think so,” Alvarez said. “At the end of the day, I’ve been inactive for a year and a half. I would need to get on a winning streak again. But there are sites out there, not the official one from UFC, but these sites have me between 15 and 20. That’s where everyone seems to put me. And I think that helps, the fans always see me in that area.

“I think a good win over Marc, if it doesn’t put me in the rankings, it sets me at 16. I’m right there. But I’m only worried about winning the fight. That’s what I came here to do.”

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

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (May 1-7)

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 May 1-7.

UFC on ESPN 42 post-event facts: Rafael dos Anjos first to reach 8-hour fight time milestone

Rafael dos Anjos became the first fighter in history to log eight hours of octagon fight time in his win at UFC on ESPN 42.

The UFC returned to Orlando, Fla., for the first time in nearly four years Saturday with UFC on ESPN 42, which took place at Amway Center and saw nine out of 14 fights end in a stoppage.

Stephen Thompson (17-6-1 MMA, 12-6-1 UFC) earned the most memorable result of all in the main event. The longtime welterweight contender went to war with Kevin Holland (23-9 MMA, 9-6 UFC). He emerged on top by fourth-round TKO due to corner stoppage and netted another Fight of the Night award in the process.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 42.