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 26-July 2.
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 19-25.
Find out how much weight all 28 fighters at Bellator 290 gained from the Friday morning official weigh-ins to Saturday night’s fights.
At Bellator 290 on Feb. 4 in Inglewood, Calif., 16 of the 28 fighters on the card gained more than 10 percent of their weight back. Two of those 16 exceeded the 15 percent threshold.
MMA Junkie obtained a list of fight-night weights Monday from California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster.
In California, fighters have their weights checked on fight day – not solely when they have to hit their marks on the scale. The extra procedure was instituted in 2017 as part of the commission’s efforts to cut back on excessive weight cutting. Within those rules was a cap on how much a fighter could gain from the official weigh-ins to the fight.
If a fighter gains more than 10 percent back before the bout, the commission can make a recommendation they move to a higher weight class. If a fighter gains more than 15 percent, the commission can potentially cancel their fight.
Check out the weight gains and percentages for all 28 fighters on the card at Kia Forum.
Check out these photos from Bellator 290, which took place at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Check out these photos from Bellator 290, which took place at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (Photos courtesy of Lucas Noonan, Bellator MMA)
The attention was on Fedor Emelianenko after Bellator 290, but Ryan Bader continued to show he’s elite in a rematch setting.
The first Bellator event of 2023, Bellator 290, went down Saturday at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and it marked a monumental occasion for both the promotion and the sport.
In addition to being the organization’s debut showcase on CBS, the card marked the retirement fight of legendary former PRIDE champion [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] (40-7 MMA, 4-3 BMMA), who suffered a first-round TKO loss to heavyweight titleholder [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) in their main event rematch.
The co-headliner saw middleweight champion [autotag]Johnny Eblen [/autotag](13-0 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) remain undefeated with a unanimous decision win over [autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag] (31-3 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) for his first title defense.
For more on the numbers behind the title bouts, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 290.
Check out the disclosed pay for all 28 fighters on Bellator 290, according to the California State Athletic Commission.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Twenty-eight fighters competed Saturday at Bellator 290 with the titleholders leading all disclosed payouts.
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster released a full list of fighter payouts Saturday to MMA Junkie. The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments, or discretionary bonuses.
One of five fighters who pocketed six-figure disclosed paydays, [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] and [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] topped the list with $150,000. Legendary MMA fighter [autotag]Fedor Emelianenko[/autotag] and welterweight Sabah Homasi each made $100,000, despite losses.
Scroll below to see what the 28 fighters on Bellator 290 were paid – disclosed amounts only.
Chris Gonzalez turned the tables on Max Rohskopf with one punch at Bellator 290.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – [autotag]Chris Gonzalez[/autotag] turned the tables on [autotag]Max Rohskopf [/autotag]with one punch Saturday night.
After first round in which Rohskopf looked like the better fighter, Gonzalez came back in Round 2 and landed the punch he needed, hitting Rohskopf with a straight right hand to the forehead that wobbled his legs and sent him backwards on the canvas. From there, Gonzalez only needed some follow-up punches on the defenseless Rohskopf to earn the second-round TKO at the 1:22 mark inside Kia Forum.
You can watch the finish in the video below (via Twitter):
𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧! What a KO by @cgzdream 👊🔥
💻 @MonsterEnergy Prelims fueled by @NorthgateGlzMrk | Bellator YouTube
📺 #Bellator290 | 𝑪𝑩𝑺 & 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕+ | 9pm ET / 6pm PT pic.twitter.com/8ro0d3USSU
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) February 5, 2023
For Gonzalez (8-2 MMA, 7-2 BMMA), the win comes roughly seven months after losing to now-champion Usman Nurmagomedov. Rohskopf (7-2 MMA, 0-1 BMMA), who was making his Bellator debut, loses for just the second time in his career.
Up-to-the-minute Bellator 290 results include:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.
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Check out which veterans of the UFC are in MMA and bareknuckle boxing action this weekend across the globe.
The UFC returns after a week off for UFC Fight Night 218, which takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Elsewhere, many other MMA events are taking place that feature familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.
These 8 veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA bareknuckle boxing this week from Feb. 2-4.
Check out the names and details about their bouts below.
Upcoming event information from Tapology.
Max Rohskopf went through an ordeal with the California State Athletic Commission that he hopes he won’t have to again for Bellator 290.
[autotag]Max Rohskopf[/autotag] was in disbelief.
Prior to his scheduled promotional debut last October 1 at Bellator 286 in Long Beach, Rohskopf did what was required of him by the California State Athletic Commission. He submitted a new brain MRI because his old one was outdated; he even got another MRI two weeks before the event when the commission asked; and then the day before the bout, he made weight.
After putting in a full training camp, he was raring to go. But something happened.
“Immediately after weigh-ins, like an hour after I already weighed in, the commission told me I had to go get another MRI, and I had to pay out of pocket for it,” Rohskopf recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “It was a long ordeal to get that done. And then the doctor that checked out that MRI in California said I was fine. Someone at the commission, I don’t know who it was, said that I wasn’t fine and that there’s something weird on my MRI.”
As a result, Rohskopf was pulled from his lightweight fight with Mike Hamel because of what he said his doctor told him was an “abnormal blood vessel” in his brain “that has nothing to do with an injury.”
“I’ve probably had it since I was born,” Rohskopf.
Still, the CSAC took no chances and made him sit this one out. Rohskopf was devastated, but he also felt burned.
One day before Bellator 286 weigh-ins, the nation witnessed a scary site in a “Thursday Night Football” NFL game when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a traumatic brain injury when his head slammed on the turf while sacked by Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou. The immediate terrifying images of Tagovailoa laid out on his back with his fingers in a rigid fencing position and being taken off the field on a stretcher sparked an immediate national conversation about concussion protocol in the NFL.
Rohskopf indicated the Tagovailoa situation influenced the CSAC’s decision, which frustrated him even more.
“A little bit after, they said something along the lines of, ‘We’re just trying to be careful because of what happened in the NFL’ the day before, which was Tua getting that concussion,” Rohskopf said. “When I heard that, I almost broke the TV in the hotel room. I was so mad. I’ve never even had like a headache or a migraine in my life. I’ve never been knocked unconscious, never had a concussion. I was pretty upset that they were pulling me.”
CSAC executive officer Andy Foster declined to comment on the situation when reached by MMA Junkie on Tuesday evening.
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Rohskopf (7-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) is set to compete next week against Chris Gonzalez at Bellator 290 in Inglewood, Calif. As of six weeks before the Feb. 4 event date, Rohskopf said he was still medically suspended by the CSAC, but his management assured him he would be cleared.
Rohskopf, 28, was controversially released by the UFC after one short-notice fight against Austin Hubbard in which he retired on the stool in between rounds. He rebounded with back-to-back wins in 2021 with Cage Warriors – which both took place under the CSAC’s jurisdiction in San Diego – before signing a multifight contract with Bellator.
Rohskopf hopes Bellator 290 serves as a jumpstart to his career after he missed all of 2022 and has fought just eight times in five years. He said he hopes he can complete his contract by the end of the year, looking to rack up wins so he can get a new one.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.
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 Dec. 12-18.
