Jean Silva returns at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 22

One of the most exciting rising UFC featherweights is set to return in February.

One of the most exciting rising featherweights is set to return in February.

[autotag]Jean Silva[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on [autotag]Melsik Baghdasaryan[/autotag] (8-2 MMA) 3-1 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night 252 event Feb. 22 from a location and venue that has yet to be announced. Silva confirmed the news on social media after an initial report from Ag Fight.

Unbeaten in the octagon, Silva has finished all three of his UFC opponents. He is coming off a Fight of the Night TKO of Drew Dober in a short-notice lightweight bout in July. The Fighting Nerds prospect will drop back down to featherweight after missing weight by 1.5 pounds in his knockout win over Charles Jourdain at UFC 303 in June.

Baghdasaryan will return after seeing multiple fights scrapped due to injury. The 32-year-old Armenian fighter has won eight of his past nine, most recently a unanimous decision win over Tucker Lutz at UFC on ESPN 49 in July 2023.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 252 lineup for Feb. 22 includes:

  • Macy Chiasson vs. Ketlen Vieira
  • Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia
  • Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez
  • Ibo Aslan vs. Ion Cutelaba
  • Islam Dulatov vs. Adam Fugitt
  • Melsik Baghdasaryan vs. Jean Silva

UFC Fight Night 236 lineup hit with pair of late changes

Two fights scheduled for UFC Fight Night 236 have been changed due to an injury and visa issues.

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 236 has encountered a pair of changes, the promotion announced Tuesday.

Visa issues have forced [autotag]Albert Duraev[/autotag] out of his bout vs. OKTAGON import [autotag]Robert Bryczek[/autotag] (17-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC). In Duraev’s place steps [autotag]Ihor Potieira[/autotag] (20-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC), who makes his UFC middleweight debut. This change was first reported by MMA Mania.

Also, Fortis MMA’s [autotag]Fernie Garcia[/autotag] (10-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC) replaces the injured [autotag]Melsik Baghdasaryan[/autotag] and takes on Dana White’s Contender Series alum [autotag]Hyder Amil[/autotag] (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a featherweight bout. This change was first reported by Eurosport NL.

The card, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, continues with 14 fights on ESPN+.

The updated UFC Fight Night 236 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)

  • Jack Hermansson vs. Joe Pyfer
  • Andre Fili vs. Dan Ige
  • Robert Bryczek vs. Ihor Potieria
  • Gregory Rodrigues vs. Brad Tavares
  • Darrius Flowers vs. Michael Johnson
  • Armen Petrosyan vs. Rodolfo Vieira

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)

  • Trevin Giles vs. Carlos Prates
  • Damir Hadzovic vs. Bolaji Oki
  • Bruna Brasil vs. Loma Lookboonmee
  • Devin Clark vs. Marcin Prachnio
  • Max Griffin vs. Jeremiah Wells
  • Bogdan Guskov vs. Zac Pauga
  • Hyder Amil vs. Fernie Garcia
  • Daniel Marcos vs. Aori Qileng

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

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Jan. 29-Feb. 4)

Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights 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, PFL, and Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Jan. 29-Feb. 4.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Jan. 8-14)

There were 35 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 Jan. 8-14.

Two more fighters withdraw from UFC Fight Night 235 in Las Vegas

The UFC Fight Night 235 lineup Feb. 3 has faced multiple changes in recent days, putting the matchmakers to work early in 2024.

The UFC’s 2024 schedule hasn’t even begun, but that doesn’t mean the matchmakers aren’t having to make some repairs already.

UFC Fight Night 235, which is slated for Feb. 3 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov, has encountered a pair of withdrawals recently.

Check out the changes and full UFC Fight Night 235 lineup below:

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Dec. 4-10)

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 Dec. 4-10.

Melsik Baghdasaryan surprised by Tucker Lutz’s grit, toughness at UFC on ESPN 49

Melsik Baghdasaryan bounced back from his first UFC loss in February with a unanimous decision win over Tucker Lutz at UFC on ESPN 49.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Melsik Baghdasaryan[/autotag] beat Tucker Lutz with a unanimous decision Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 49 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Baghdasaryan, who bounced back from his first UFC loss in February.

UFC on ESPN 49 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Holly Holm tops card with $11,000

UFC on ESPN 49 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 49 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $126,500.

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

The full UFC on ESPN 49 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Mayra Bueno Silva[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Holly Holm[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Bassil Hafez[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Fransisco Prado[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Ottman Azaitar[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Junyong Park[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Albert Duraev[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Chelsea Chandler[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Nazim Sadykhov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Terrance McKinney[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Melsik Baghdasaryan[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tucker Lutz[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Viktoriia Dudakova[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Istela Nunes[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Melquizael Costa[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Austin Lingo[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Evan Elder[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Genaro Valdez[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Azat Maksum[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tyson Nam[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Alexander Munoz[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Carl Deaton[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Ailin Perez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Ashlee Evans-Smith[/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 $49,000 while title challengers get $49,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-49 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,555,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $19,144,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 49.

UFC on ESPN 49 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC on ESPN 49 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – UFC on ESPN 49 took place Saturday with 13 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 on ESPN 49 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 49.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (June 19-25)

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.