Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Miranda Maverick, who has a thriving upstart pickle side hustle, outworked Andrea Lee at UFC 298 for her fourth win in five fights.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – [autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag] beat Andrea Lee with a unanimous decision Saturday to open up the preliminary card at UFC 298 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Take a look inside the fight with Maverick, who has won four of her past five fights.
Nine UFC 298 competitors are out a potential 180 days due to injuries sustained in their fights Saturday in Anaheim, Calif.
Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view event in Anaheim, Calif. was not a good night to be a limb.
UFC 298 took place at Anaheim, Calif. and featured 12 bouts and 24 fighters. Nine of those fighters were handed six-month suspensions as a result of injuries sustained in their bouts. Eight of those potential injuries were deemed possible fractures.
Monday, California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster, who oversaw the event, provided MMA Junkie with a full list of medical suspensions.
Scroll below to see how much time UFC 298 competitors will have to take off as a result of their bouts Saturday. It’s important to note fighters may return before the conclusion of their suspensions if they are cleared by a physician (unless denoted “no exception” or “mandatory”).
Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 298 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $252,000.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 298 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 298 took place at Honda Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The full UFC 298 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag]: $42,000
[autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Roman Kopylov[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Amanda Lemos[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Marcos Rogerio de Lima[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Junior Tafa[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Rinya Nakamura[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Carlos Vera[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Zhang Mingyang[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Brendson Ribeiro[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Danny Barlow[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Josh Quinlan[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Oban Elliott[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Val Woodburn[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag]: $11,000
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 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $1,093,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,800,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.
Check out what the UFC 298 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Anaheim, Calif.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – UFC 298 took place Saturday with 12 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
You can hear from all the UFC 298 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.
Check out the best photos from Miranda Maverick’s unanimous decision win over Andrea Lee at UFC 298.
Check out the best photos from [autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Andrea Lee[/autotag] at UFC 298 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. (Fight and venue photos by Gary A. Vasquez, USA Today Sports)
The best facts and figures about UFC 298, which sees Alexander Volkanovski take on the rare task of a title defense after a knockout loss.
The octagon returns to Anaheim, Calif., for the first time in more than two years and ninth time in its history on Saturday with UFC 298, which goes down at Honda Center with a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
An anticipated featherweight championship bout gets top billing. Champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) returns to the division he rules following a knockout loss to lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev in October when he takes on unbeaten contender [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC 298.
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.
Miranda Maverick actually did NOT feel the need for speed with a submission win that would have made Tom Cruise proud.
[autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag] actually did not feel the need … the need for speed … when she got back in the win column at UFC 291.
Maverick (12-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) submitted Priscila Cachoeira (12-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) with an armbar midway through the third round to open the prelims at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The finish didn’t get Maverick a post-fight bonus, but it did get her back on track after an upset loss to Jasmine Jasudavicius in June.
Maverick said she was worried about potentially dirty tactics from Cachoeira, and seemed to experience it when Cachoeira’s arm managed to make its way under Maverick’s top, leaving her momentarily exposed.
Maverick – whose last name happens to be the name of one of the greatest movie characters in the history of the world, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 classic “Top Gun” and its 2022 sequel – thought it was intentional. And given that, if she took her time and wanted to punish the Brazilian a little, perhaps we’d forgive her.
“I had softened her up plenty, thrown a lot of elbows, thrown a lot of punches, and she kept just sticking those hands up there, prime for the taking for an armbar,” Maverick said backstage at her UFC 291 post-fight news conference. “I just wanted to wait until I had her in enough pain that she wouldn’t fight it off as much as she would have the first or second round. … I knew once I had that armbar, she wasn’t getting out without a broken arm, and I think she pretty much tapped right at the beginning. Then she held on again, then she tapped again, and I just waited for the ref to grab ahold of me before I let go of it.”
Maverick walked out to the Harold Faltermeyer main titles theme for “Top Gun” this past Saturday, and though it seems like an obvious choice, she hasn’t always done it.
For her promotional debut at UFC 254 and her follow-up at UFC 260, she came out to “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. For her third bout in the UFC, she made the switch to “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns. And she’s kept things fluid by walking to the same “Top Gun” theme at UFC 289 in June. But she tempted any bad karma from the song by walking to it again and got a much more desirable result.
Coincidentally, Maverick fought on the same card as the UFC’s other “Maverick” – Michael Chiesa, who has it as his nickname. And a cool nickname it is, appropriate for a sport like MMA. But Maverick thinks she has the edge.
“My last name’s Maverick. I think it’s one of the best names in the sport,” she said. “Michael Chiesa is fighting tonight and he has the nickname, but he doesn’t have the real name. I go in there repping that (name) every time. ‘Top Gun’ is kind of the perfect entrance with it. I love the movie, I love the song, I love America – so it all goes together.”
Maverick said she’s given some thought to a no-brainer nickname like “Top Gun,” but certainly won’t anoint herself with the new moniker since that would break one of MMA’s longstanding unwritten rules.
“There’s been thought,” Maverick said, “(but) I have the thought of trademarks and all that can come into play in question. I don’t want to get in trouble with that aspect. Also, I believe in the whole somebody else gives you your nickname (concept), and even though ‘Top Gun’ is a pretty cool nickname, I think Maverick alone’s good enough.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
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Miranda Maverick was ready for Priscila Cachoeira to fight dirty, but was worried about her eyes – not having her top ripped off at UFC 291.
SALT LAKE CITY – [autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag] beat Priscila Cachoeira with a third-round submission Saturday to open up the preliminary card at UFC 291 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Take a look inside the fight with Maverick, who got back in the win column after an upset loss in June.
The best facts to come out of UFC 291, which saw Justin Gaethje add to his bonus run and Derrick Lewis retake the octagon knockout record.
UFC 291 arguably was the event of the year on paper coming in, and the fights lived up to the hype with nine finishes in 11 bouts at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
The main event delivered perhaps the best knockout of the year so far when [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) got revenge on [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) in their lightweight “BMF” title rematch courtesy of a brutal second-round head kick finish.
A number of historic feats occurred throughout the lineup. For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 291.
