UFC 277 hit with multitude of withdrawals. Here’s where the card stands less than two weeks away.

Less than two weeks away, the UFC 277 prelims are falling apart, and the promotion continues to patch things up.

UFC 277 is less than two weeks away, and the promotion continues to work through numerous fighter injuries and visa-related withdrawals.

While luckily the main card remains intact, a handful of preliminary card fighter pullouts have resulted in new bouts and a couple of yet-to-be-filled openings.

The event takes place July 30 at American Airlines Center in Dallas with the main card streaming on pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

See below to check out the UFC 277 changes from the past week.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (July 11-17)

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 July 11-17.

Summer League player grades: Mason Jones

Our analysis of Mason Jones’ performance in this year’s NBA Summer League for the Lakers.

The 2022 NBA Summer League is now in the books for the Los Angeles Lakers, and they had a few players who showed at least some potential to make it to the big leagues and spend some significant time there.

One of those players is Mason Jones, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard who spent this past season with the South Bay Lakers of the G League. There, he averaged 18.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 42.0 percent from 3-point range.

Here is a summary of what Jones showed in the Summer League over the past couple of weeks.

JD Notae and Mason Jones similarities continue as former invited to Elite Camp

JD Notae is creating a path to the NBA with this invitation.

Mason Jones’ last season at Arkansas was the stuff of legend. JD Notae’s was the same.

Jones has made his hay as one of the G League’s best players after declining a final season in Fayetteville. He was the third leading scorer in the league this year and had another stint in the NBA with Los Angeles.

Now Notae could join him.

The first-team SEC guard was invited to the G League Elite Camp from May 16-17 month in Chicago. Those who perform best there will then be invited to the NBA Scouting Combine on May 22. Jaylin Williams, Arkansas’ sophomore forward who declared for the draft but did not hire an agent, will be at the Combine, as well.

Notae could have returned to Arkansas for a super-senior season but chose to sign with an agent, instead. He averaged 18.3 points and 2.3 steals last year en route to an All-American third-team honor.

It’s official: Anthony Black is a Razorback

Anthony Black becomes the third five-star signee for Arkansas Basketball for the 2022 cycle.

While there was zero doubt about the commitment status of [autotag]Anthony Black[/autotag], who announced his verbal commitment during McDonald’s All-American week in March, it is nice to know that pen has officially met paper.

On Wednesday, the five-star guard from Duncanville, Texas officially signed with Arkansas, giving the Razorbacks three five-star signees for the 2022 recruiting cycle.

While signing to Arkansas is a huge deal in itself, having a special guest at your signing makes it better. Especially, when it is a Razorback legend.

[autotag]Mason Jones[/autotag], who played at Arkansas during the 2019-20 season and currently plays professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers, joined Black at his signing ceremony at Duncanville High School.

Black is the No. 22 overall prospect for the Class of 2022, and is rated as the No. 3 point guard and No. 3 overall prospect from the state of Texas. Black is the third five-star to sign with Arkansas for the 2022 cycle, joining [autotag]Nick Smith Jr.[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordan Walsh[/autotag].

Four former Hogs have eyes on NBA title as playoffs set to start

Arkansas had seven guys in the NBA this season. Four are in the playoffs, hoping for a NBA ring as the playoffs begin this weekend.

[autotag]Arkansas basketball[/autotag] had arguably its best season from former Razorbacks in the NBA in 2021-22. Now four of those ex-Hogs are seeking an NBA title.

The Razorbacks had seven players in the NBA at one point this season. It’s the most Arkansas has had in top pro league in the world at a time since 1999 when a different seven were on NBA rosters.

[autotag]Bobby Portis[/autotag], who won the NBA championship with Milwaukee last year, had even better individual season this year. [autotag]Moses Moody[/autotag] tied a record with Golden State in his rookie season to put his name alongside none other than Stephen Curry. [autotag]Patrick Beverley[/autotag] helped Minnesota to a play-in round win earlier in the week and remains one of the league’s best defenders. [autotag]Isaiah Joe[/autotag] took a step forward with Philadelphia. [autotag]Daniel Gafford[/autotag] started most of the season for Washington. [autotag]Mason Jones[/autotag] had a cup of coffee with the Lakers. Even [autotag]Joe Johnson[/autotag], the most successful former Arkansas player in the NBA the last couple decades, had a return to the top level.

Portis’, Moody’s, Beverley’s and Joe’s teams all made the playoffs. Play-in games continue Friday before the traditional No. 1 seed through No. 8 seed tournament begins Saturday.

This is a closer look at the Hogs vying for a championship.

South Bay Lakers’ Mason Jones wins G League Player of the Month

Los Angeles Lakers two-way player Mason Jones won the G League Player of the Month for January.

South Bay Lakers guard Mason Jones won the G League Player of the Month for January, the league announced Tuesday.

Jones, who is on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, put up some ridiculous numbers throughout the course of the month that definitely warranted recognition.

The 6-foot-4 guard posted 28 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals while shooting 51.7% from the field. He has been doing it all for South Bay, which currently has a 6-3 record in the Western Conference. That is tied with the Iowa Wolves for second place in the standings.

Jones appeared in two games for Los Angeles in late December while the team had several players out due to health and safety protocols but has not played since.

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Explaining the NBA’s hardship exception and the free agents who signed as replacement players

Explaining what hardship exceptions and replacement players mean as COVID-19 protocols hit the NBA.

As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, the NBA has required a large share of “replacement players” to fill in for the players who are in health and safety protocols. And so far, more than 100 players have reportedly entered the league’s health and safety protocols so far this month, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.

But how exactly do the “replacement players” work?

Essentially, the NBA’s hardship exception allows teams to exceed the 15-man roster limit if more than three players on the roster are each going to miss extended time due to illness or injury. Typically, teams weren’t allowed to apply for the hardship exception before Jan. 5.

But starting last season, the league changed the policy to allow earlier exceptions. And as of earlier this week, effective Dec. 19 until Jan. 19, the NBA is allowing teams to sign one replacement player for each player on their roster who tests positive for COVID-19.

While there are some big names (e.g. Isaiah Thomas, Lance Stephenson, CJ Miles) who have signed as replacement players, there are lots of promising young NBA hopefuls who are hoping to use this opportunity as a chance to stick around the league.

Not all of the players below were signed through hardship exceptions and some transactions (e.g. DeMarcus Cousins and Wesley Matthews to the Milwaukee Bucks) may have happened anyway during a normal season.

But below, based on the NBA’s transaction log and reporting from the league’s top insiders, you can find a live tracker of all the players who have signed new deals with NBA teams over the course of the past month.

Lakers signing Jemerrio Jones via hardship exemption, Mason Jones on two-way contract

The Los Angeles Lakers signed two players from the G League to the roster Monday.

The Los Angeles Lakers are signing two players from the G League to add to the main roster, via Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The first is Jemerrio Jones, who recently played for the Wisconsin Herd. Jones will be on a 10-day contract via hardship exemption, which the NBA recently made new rules for.

Jones also had a short stint with both the Lakers and South Bay and showed off his rebounding prowess despite being 6-foot-5. Through four G League seasons, Jones averaged 10.2 rebounds a game.

Mason Jones is the other addition. He will be inked to a two-way contract. The Lakers already have Chaundee Brown and Jay Huff signed to two-way deals, so one will need to get cut to make room for Jones. Huff might be the option since he hasn’t played a game for the Lakers yet while Brown has.

Jones recently played for South Bay. In 12 games, he averaged 17.8 points while shooting 41.2% from deep. The 6-foot-4 guard could get some run facilitating this offense in spurts.

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UFC Fight Night 196 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Paulo Costa gets $6,000

UFC Fight Night 196 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 196 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $157,500.

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 196 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 196 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag]: $6,000
vs. [autotag]Ricky Glenn[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jessica-Rose Clark[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Seungwoo Choi[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Dwight Grant[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Nicolae Negumereanu[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Ike Villanueva[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Gregor Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Junyong Park[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Mason Jones[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]David Onama[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Tabatha Ricci[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Maria Oliveira[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Jamie Pickett[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Laureano Staropoli[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Khama Worthy[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Jeff Molina[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Daniel da Silva[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Randa Markos[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Livinha Souza[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Zviad Lazishvili[/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 $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 2021 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,489,000
Program-to-date total: $4,489,000

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