Next week’s UFC Fight Night 201 card suddenly has started to take a few hits to the lineup.
Next week’s UFC Fight Night 201 card suddenly has started to take a few hits to the lineup.
[autotag]Julian Marquez[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is out of his middleweight matchup against [autotag]Kyle Daukaus[/autotag] (10-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC). A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the news to MMA Junkie on Tuesday. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has not yet made a formal announcement.
In addition, [autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag] (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is out of his featherweight fight against [autotag]Jonathan Pearce[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC). It is not yet known if Daukaus or Pearce will remain on the card against new opponents.
UFC Fight Night 201 takes place Feb. 19 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.
Marquez has post-fight bonuses in two straight fights. He submitted Maki Pitolo and, most recently, Sam Alvey at UFC on ABC 2 in April 2021. Marquez was scheduled to face Jordan Wright at UFC Fight Night 195 this past October, but the fight was canceled when Marquez withdrew with non-COVID health issues.
Daukaus, a former CFFC middleweight champion, is coming off a no contest against Holland this past October. Originally a submission win for Daukaus, the decision was overturned after replays revealed an accidental clash of heads knocked Holland unconscious and led to the fight-ending sequence.
Daukaus was supposed to fight Holland in a rematch at UFC Fight Night 197 this past November. Holland had to pull out with an injury. Then replacement Roman Dolidze was pulled due to COVID-19 protocols. Now his fight with Marquez, which was booked shortly after the Dolidze cancellation, is off.
With the changes, the UFC Fight Night 201 lineup now includes:
Trevin Jones got UFC 259 off to a strong note with a sweet display of hands against Mario Bautista.
[autotag]Trevin Jones[/autotag] got UFC 259 off on a strong note with a sweet display of hands against [autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag].
Jones (13-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC) showed excellent accuracy with his strikes throughout the first round of their bantamweight bout Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Then in the opening moments of the second, he found a home for a shot that dropped Bautista (8-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and set up the TKO just 40 seconds in.
Check out the replay of the stoppage below (via Twitter):
The victory was a relieving moment for Jones. He made a spectacular come-from-behind effort to win his UFC debut against Timur Valiev in August, then the result was overturned by the Nevada Athletic Commission when he tested positive for marijuana.
Jones said he didn’t let the disappointment of his situation derail him, though. He was just happy to produce a winning performance on a big card.
“It was very frustrating, but at the end of the day everyone wants me to cry and I’m not going to cry,” Jones said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “It just motivated me, man. I had to treat this fight like my baby again.”
We want your predictions for UFC 259, which features title fights at light heavyweight, women’s featherweight and bantamweight.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 259 event in Las Vegas.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC 259 main card staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC 259 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Trevin Jones will still get to compete on UFC 259 when he faces replacement Mario Bautista.
[autotag]Trevin Jones[/autotag] will still get to compete on the upcoming blockbuster pay-per-view card.
[autotag]Randy Costa[/autotag] has been forced to withdraw from UFC 259 on March 6 and [autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag] (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will step in to face Jones (12-6 MMA, 0-0-1 UFC).
Two people with knowledge of the booking informed MMA Junkie of the matchup, but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
UFC 259 takes place Saturday, March 6 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
In his promotional debut, Jones (12-6 MMA, 0-0-1 UFC) mounted an incredible comeback when he finished Timur Valiev in the second round at UFC on ESPN 15 this past August. However, the Nevada Athletic Commission overturned Jones’ win to a no contest after he tested positive for marijuana.
Since dropping his UFC debut to bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen in January 2019, Bautista has notched back-to-back bonuses in a “Fight of the Night” win over Jin Soo Son and, most recently, a flying knee finish of Miles Johns at UFC 247.
With the change, the UFC 259 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya – for light heavyweight title
Rising UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen showed his submission skills in fine style at UFC on ESPN+ 1.
Rising bantamweight contender [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] showcased his full skill set to the world in just one round at UFC on ESPN+ 1.
After his initial opponent John Lineker was forced out, Sandhagen (12-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) faced newcomer [autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag] in January 2019, and registered his first submission win in the UFC in fine style.
Sandhagen pressed the action early, mixing things up to the body and finishing off his combinations with hard leg kicks. Two minutes into the round, the Team Elevation athlete landed a big flying knee that dropped Bautista, who did well to recover by holding onto Sandhagen’s leg and flipping him over for the slam takedown.
But, despite Bautista landing the takedown, it was Sandhagen who took advantage on the mat. He latched onto Bautista’s neck, then used a triangle choke attempt to eventually transition to an armbar as he forced Bautista to tap at the 3:31 mark.
Sandhagen went on to win his next two bouts as he defeated Lineker and Raphael Assuncao – both via unanimous decision – to position himself as one of the UFC’s top contenders at 135 pounds.
Now “The Sandman” is all set to take on fellow bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250. The event takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Before Sandhagen faces Sterling, relive his one-round finish of Bautista via the video above.
Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes are facing short suspensions. Valentina Shevchenko, on the other hand, could be out for a while.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] and [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] battled for five rounds at UFC 247, but it seems they’ve come out relatively unscathed.
The pair of headliners each received a 31-day suspension, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation document obtained Tuesday. The Texas commission was responsible for regulating UFC 247, which took place at Toyota Center in Houston.
Conversely, UFC women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] is facing a potentially lengthy suspension after her third-round TKO victory over [autotag]Katyln Chookagian[/autotag] in the evening’s co-main event. According to the TDLR, Shevchenko is facing a 181-day suspension, while Chookagian was handed a potential 45-day term.
Two other winners, [autotag]Journey Newson[/autotag] and [autotag]Andre Ewell[/autotag], are also facing potential 181-day suspensions.
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Check out a full list of the UFC 247 medical suspensions below.
(Note: No specific injury details were given. It’s also important to note that, due to the lack of specific information, it’s unclear if any fighters have the ability to have their suspensions shortened if cleared by a doctor.)
[autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
[autotag]Khaos Williams[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
Andre Ewell: Suspended 181 days
[autotag]Domingo Pilarte[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
Journey Newson: Suspended 181 days
[autotag]Miles Johns[/autotag]: Suspended 61 days
[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]James Krause[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]: Suspended 10 days
[autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag]: Suspended 31 days
“We watched his past fights. He is a lot shorter than me – kind of hangs his head in the center and doesn’t really move off line. Working with my striking coach back at home, we do that flying knee all the time, so it was something that we had seen and it worked.”
Bautista on fighting an unbeaten opponent
“You can’t really be thinking about your opponent’s record. If you think about the record, it’s always going to be in your mind that he is unbeatable. But to me, I’ve seen his last fight. I thought he lost, and we just saw a lot of holes in his game. I trained with a great camp and we had a great game plan and it worked tonight.”
Bautista on what he wants next
“Hopefully I’ll get two more fights this year and be breaking the top 15 by the end of the year. I don’t like to call out people, but one thing is that I really do want to fight in Vegas. If anyone is hearing me out there, I really want to fight in Vegas. It’s my home state and I want to put on a show for those guys.”
To hear more from Bautista, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
The best facts and figures to come out of UFC 247, which saw Jon Jones defeat Dominick Reyes in the main event.
The UFC returned to Texas on Saturday with UFC 247, which took place at Toyota Center in Houston with a main card that aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
Two championship fights topped the card. In the main event, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) defended the UFC light heavyweight title by the skin of his teeth with a ultra-competitive unanimous decision win over [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), while [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (19-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) utterly dominated [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) en route to a third-round TKO in the co-main event.
Both fights for the gold provided some historic footnotes, but that’s not all the card had to offer. For more on the numbers, check below for 50 post-event facts to come out of UFC 247.
* * * *
General
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The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout for the event totaled $243,000.
UFC 247 drew an announced attendance of 17,401 for a live gate of $3,549,418.
Betting favorites went 6-5 on the card. One fight had even odds.
Betting favorites improved to 3-0 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:10:48.
Main card
Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes
Jones’ 14 victories in UFC championship fights are most in company history.
Jones’ 20 victories in UFC light heavyweight competition are the most in divisional history.
Jones’ 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak is the longest among active UFC fighters.
Jones 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak is the longest in company history.
Jones’ 18-fight UFC unbeaten streak in light-heavyweight competition is the longest active streak in the weight class and longest in divisional history.
Jones’ four-fight UFC winning streak at light heavyweight is tied with Corey Anderson for the longest active streak in the division.
Jones’ 1,835 total strikes landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are most in divisional history.
Jones’ 1,473 significant strikes landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are the most in divisional history.
Jones’ 42 takedowns landed in UFC light heavyweight competition are fourth-most in divisional history behind Anderson (53), Rashad Evans (50) and Ryan Bader (46).
Jones’ total fight time of 5:40:15 in UFC light heavyweight competition is most in divisional history.
Reyes had his 12-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
Valentina Shevchenko
Shevchenko’s two consecutive UFC women’s flyweight title defenses are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko improved to 5-0 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in February 2018.
Shevchenko’s five-fight UFC winning streak at women’s flyweight is the longest active streak in the division.
Shevchenko’s five victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko’s three stoppage victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind Gillian Robertson (four).
Shevchenko’s two knockout victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied with Maycee Barber for most in divisional history.
Shevchenko earned the eighth knockout in UFC history to stem from the crucifix position. Gary Goodridge, Matt Hughes, Dong Hyun Kim, Paul Kelly, Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier and Tyson Pedro also accomplished the feat.
Shevchenko has completed at least one takedown against nine of her 10 UFC opponents.
Chookagian fell to 4-2 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in January 2018.
Chookagian suffered the first knockout loss of her career.
Justin Tafa
[autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has earned all four of his career victories by knockout.
[autotag]Juan Adams[/autotag] (5-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has suffered three consecutive losses after starting his career on a five-fight winning streak.
Adams has suffered both of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]’s (13-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) five-fight UFC winning streak in featherweight competition is the fourth longest active streak behind Arnold Allen (seven), Zabit Magomedsharipov (six) and Alexander Volkanovski (six).
[autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career.
Bektic suffered the first decision loss of his career.
Derrick Lewis
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) 14 victories in UFC heavyweight competition are fourth-most in divisional history behind Andrei Arlovski (17), Frank Mir (16) and Junior Dos Santos (15).
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag]’s (14-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) three-fight losing skid is the longest of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since February 2018.
Latifi was unsuccessful in his UFC heavyweight debut.
Preliminary card
Trevin Giles
Giles (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) improved to 2-2 since he dropped to the UFC middleweight division in December 2017.
Krause (27-8 MMA, 8-4 UFC) has suffered three of his four UFC losses by decision.
[autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) improved to 3-1 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in December 2017.
[autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) suffered consecutive losses for the first time in her career.
Lee has suffered both of her UFC losses by split decision.
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) has suffered all three of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
[autotag]Miles Johns[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) had his 10-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
[autotag]Domingo Pilarte[/autotag] (8-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
[autotag]Andre Ewell[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has earned all three of his UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered both of his UFC losses by decision.
[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag] (8-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) earned the first decision victory of his career.
[autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag] (7-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) had his seven-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 247 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $243,000.
HOUSTON – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 247 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $243,000.
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 247 took place at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
The full UFC 247 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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:
Check out the complete list of fighter walkout songs from Saturday’s UFC 247 event.
While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a UFC win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.
Inside, see what the fighters from UFC 247 went with as their backing tracks in Houston.
