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 or officially announced by a promotion from June 5-11.
Find out who joined the UFC in April 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 the increasingly 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 April 2023 list below.
Marcus McGhee beat Journey Newson with a second-round submission at UFC Fight Night 223 – and did it on just three days’ notice.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag] beat Journey Newson with a second-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 223 in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with McGhee, who took the fight on just three days’ notice.
Check out the numbers to come out UFC Fight Night 223, where Song Yadong climbed the bantamweight knockout list with a main event finish.
The UFC closed its April schedule Saturday with UFC Fight Night 223 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The card, which was thin on paper, saw [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] (20-7-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) shine in the main event when he outworked and eventually finished [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag] (20-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) with a fifth-round TKO in their bantamweight showdown.
For more on the numbers to come out of the main event, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 223.
UFC Fight Night 223 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 223 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $144,500.
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 223 took place at the UFC Apex. The main card streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN2.
The full UFC Fight Night 223 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Michal Oleksiejczuk[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Rodolfo Vieira[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Cody Brundage[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Fernando Padilla[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Julian Erosa[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Marcos Rogerio de Lima[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Trey Waters[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Josh Quinlan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Martin Buday[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Cody Durden[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Charles Johnson[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Irina Alekseeva[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Stephanie Egger[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Journey Newson[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jamey-Lyn Horth[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Hailey Cowan[/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 2231 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: $2,556,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $17,145,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 223.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 223 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 223 took place Saturday with 11 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 Fight Night 223 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 223.
The UFC fight card for Saturday in Las Vegas was hit with four changes in recent days.
Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 223 looks a little different than it did one week ago.
Two bouts originally scheduled for the event have been postponed to later dates, while two others have been canceled with one fighter rebooked against a new opponent. One affected bout was scheduled for the main card, while the other three were prelims.
UFC Fight Night 223 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
