Tag: Max Griffin

Max Griffin takes issue with judge Sal D’Amato’s scoring: ‘He picks against me every single time’

Max Griffin vented his frustration towards judge Sal D’Amato for scoring the fight against him.

LAS VEGAS –  [autotag]Max Griffin[/autotag] vented his frustration toward judge Sal D’Amato for scoring his most recent fight – a win – against him.

Griffin (20-10 MMA, 8-8 UFC) defeated Jeremiah Wells (12-4-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) by split decision Saturday at UFC Fight Night 236 at the UFC Apex. Two of the judges scored the fight 29-28 for Griffin; D’Amato scored it 29-28 for Wells.

Griffin was adamant D’Amato has something against him. D’Amato was one of two judges who awarded Neil Magny the split decision win over Griffin at UFC on ESPN 33 in March 2022.

“I cannot stand Sal D’Amato,” Griffin told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight at UFC Fight Night 236. “He has me on Neil Magny losing, he has me on numerous fights. … He picks against me every single time. I don’t know if I did something in a past life to him, if I did something to him, but Sal D’Amato hates me.”

Most media members tracked by MMA Decisions had Wells winning the fight Saturday, but Griffin was adamant he had done enough to get his hand raised. He has split his past four appearances.

According to MMA Decisions, D’Amato has scored four Griffin fights in recent years. He scored against him in the Wells fight Griffin won Saturday and against him in the Magny fight he lost. But D’Amato was the only judge to score a Griffin split decision loss to Alex Oliveira in Griffin’s favor in 2020 and also concurred with two other judges in a Griffin unanimous decision win over Carlos Condit.

“We won,” Griffin said. “We totally won. Ask (D’Amato) – he knows I won. It’s every time.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 post-event facts: Rodolfo Vieira claims record with another arm-triangle choke

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 236, which saw Rodolfo Vieira become the all-time octagon leader in arm-triangle choke wins.

The UFC’s lengthy stretch of events rolled on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 236 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

[autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag] (24-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) emerged victorious in the main event when he scored an upset of [autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision in their middleweight bout.

For more on the numbers from the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Multiple veterans net max non-title money

UFC Fight Night 236 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 236 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $236,500.

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

The full UFC Fight Night 236 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Robert Bryczek[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ihor Potieria[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Michael Johnson[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Darrius Flowers[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Rodolfo Vieira[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Armen Petrosyan[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Carlos Prates[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Bolaji Oki[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tim Cuamba[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Loma Lookboonmee[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Bruna Brasil[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Marcin Prachnio[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Devin Clark[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Max Griffin[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Jeremiah Wells[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Bogdan Guskov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Zac Pauga[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Hyder Amil[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Fernie Garcia[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag]: $4,000
vs. [autotag]Aori Qileng[/autotag]: $6,000

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 2361 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 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $850,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,557,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.

UFC Fight Night 236 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC Fight Night 236 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.

LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 236 took place Saturday with 14 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 236 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 236.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Nov. 27-Dec 3.)

All the UFC 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.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Nov. 27-Dec. 3.

UFC on ESPN 48 post-event facts: Grant Dawson’s numbers show title trajectory

Check out all the facts and figures from UFC on ESPN 48, where Grant Dawson joined an exclusive club by putting together a nine-fight unbeaten streak in the octagon.

The UFC’s loaded July schedule got off to a hot start on Saturday with UFC on ESPN 48, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and featured six stoppages out of 12 fights.

One of those finishes came in the main event, when [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) held serve as a top middleweight when he turned back [autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag] (25-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with a second-round TKO before calling for a title shot.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check out MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 48.

UFC on ESPN 47 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Sean Strickland, Kevin Lee get most money

UFC on ESPN 47 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 47 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 on ESPN 47 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC on ESPN 47 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Damir Ismagulov[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Michael Morales[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Max Griffin[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Ariane Lipski[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Melissa Gatto[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Ismael Bonfim[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Nursulton Ruziboev[/autotag]: $4,000
def.[autotag]Brunno Ferreira[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Rinat Fakhretdinov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kevin Lee[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Joanderson Brito[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Westin Wilson[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Karol Rosa[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Yana Santos[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Elves Brener[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Guram Kutateladze[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Luana Carolina[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ivana Petrovic[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Alexandr Romanov[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Blagoy Ivanov[/autotag]: $6,000

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 $47,000 while title challengers get $47,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-47 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,109,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $18,698,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 47.

UFC on ESPN 48: Max Griffin vs. Michael Morales odds, picks and predictions

Analyzing Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 48 odds and lines between Max Griffin vs. Michael Morales with MMA picks, tips and predictions.

In a welterweight bout on the main card, Max Griffin and Michael Morales meet Saturday at UFC on ESPN 48 — also known as UFC Vegas 76 — at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Let’s analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s lines around the UFC on ESPN 48: Griffin vs. Morales odds, and make our expert picks and predictions.

The prelims are on ESPN/ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET, with the main card on ESPN/ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET.

Watch this card with ESPN+ by signing up here.

Records: Griffin (19-9-0) | Morales (14-0-0)

Griffin has been involved in a pair of split-decision results in his past 2 fights, winning against Tim Means last time out in late October and losing to Neil Magny in late March 2022. He has won 4 of the past 5 fights overall, with his past 3 outings going the distance.

Morales is 2-for-2 since making his debut at UFC 270 in January 2022, and each of the victories has been via KO/TKO. He dropped Trevin Giles at UFC 270 in the 1st round and took care of business against Adam Fugitt at UFC 277 in the 3rd round.

Morales has a 1-inch height advantage and a 3-inch reach advantage. He is also 13 years younger than his counterpart.

Morales also holds a 5.36-to-4.23 significant strikes landed advantage and lands them at a 56.64% clip. He also has a slight takedown average advantage at 1.98-to-1.60, although Griffin is more accurate at 50.0% on takedowns.

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UFC on ESPN 48: Griffin vs. Morales odds

Provided by FanDuel Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 7 a.m. ET.

  • Fight result (2-way line): Griffin +215 (bet $100 to win $215) | Morales -260 (bet $260 to win $100)
  • Over/Under: 2.5 rounds (Over -134 | Under +104)
  • Will the fight go the distance? (Yes -110 | No -116)

UFC on ESPN 48: Griffin vs. Morales picks and predictions

Fight result (2-way line or moneyline)

Morales (-260) will cost you more than 2 1/2 times your potential return, and that’s just too much risk for not enough reward. There is no value in playing such heavy favorites for a singular wager, and including Morales in a multi-fighter parlay also sucks the value out of a parlay ticket.

Let’s look to the method of victory instead. He has managed 11 KO/TKO victories in 14 career professional bouts — all wins — and has 1 victory via submission. Just 2 of his fights have involved the judges for a decision, and that has happened just once since Dec. 2018.

I like MORALES BY KO/TKO (+195) for a chance to nearly double up. In addition, you can play a Method & Round combo. Roll with MORALES BY KO/TKO & ROUND 1 (+500) and MORALES BY KO/TKO & ROUND 2 (+750) in that category. If he wins in Rounds 1 or 2 via knockout, you will obviously lose one of the ends, but you’ll still be well ahead, too.

There is a risk here, as Griffin hasn’t been knocked out since his debut at UFC 202 against Colby Covington in Aug. 2016. But Morales has a 3-inch reach advantage and will be able to use that to his advantage, picking and choosing spots to move in and out, while keeping Griffin at a distance when needed.

Over/Under (O/U)

WILL THE FIGHT GO THE DISTANCE? NO (-116) is the way to go. Morales doesn’t like to leave it up to the judges to decide a winner. While Griffin has ended up going the distance in 3 straight outings, that will not be the case here.

For a better value, I like UNDER 2.5 ROUNDS (+104) at plus money.

Visit MMA Junkie for more fight news and analysis.

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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.

Follow Kevin J. Erickson on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and us on Facebook.

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Max Griffin offended by booking against Michael Morales: ‘They’re sending a guy that they think can beat me’

Max Griffin is determined to derail the hype from unbeaten prospect Michael Morales.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Max Griffin[/autotag] is not exactly happy with his matchup against [autotag]Michael Morales[/autotag].

The 37-year-old welterweight veteran is set to take on Michael Morales on the main card of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 47 at the UFC Apex. This booking made Griffin (19-9 MMA, 7-7 UFC) feel like he’s been set up to be a stepping stone for Morales (14-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who’s unbeaten and just 24 years old – and that has Griffin fuming.

“I have a thing for these new guys: I get offended,” Griffin told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 47 media day. “So it’s another guy, 14-0, fought Trevin Giles. That was a terrible fight from Trevin Giles. He beat him in the beginning but burned his arms out, getting sloppy, and got knocked out. … He (Morales) ain’t fought nobody. It’s not even about who y’all fought, but I am me. I am him. I’m not the guy you want to fight when you’re that raw, that new.”

Although there’s something to be said about Morales’s promise and rise, Griffin is not getting caught in a bad career moment. “Pain” is 4-1 in his past five bouts, with the lone defeat coming to Neil Magny in a close, split decision.

Griffin is puzzled to see his opponent favored on the betting odds and is motivated to prove them wrong.

“I think for me, it’s more that they’re sending a guy that they think can beat me, and he’s the favorite,” Griffin said. “I don’t like that. I don’t even know how he is the favorite. Because he’s younger? I don’t know, but my homies are cashing in, I can tell you that. Cash that, baby.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 47.

Video: UFC on ESPN 47 media day interviews

Before UFC on ESPN 47 on Saturday, 14 athletes from the card are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC schedule for July kicks off Saturday with UFC on ESPN 47, which takes place at the UFC Apex with a card that airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.

A middleweight bout serves as the main event, with [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (26-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) taking on [autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag] (25-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a matchup between one established contender and an opponent looking to make a splash in just his second octagon appearance.

Before fight night arrives, though, 14 athletes from this weekend’s card spoke to reporters Wednesday at media day.

If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream above, check below for the archived videos of each media day session.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 47.