Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here!
On Episode No. 3,070 of the podcast, the fellas unpack Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event, which took place on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
THE RUNDOWN
UFC on ESPN 13 featured [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] winning a big featherweight bout over Dan Ige in the main event to cement himself as a contender in the division. Some thoughts on the fight and what comes next.
[autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag], [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Shore[/autotag] were all newcomers who came away with wins at UFC on ESPN 13. And they all looked pretty damn good doing it. Could we have a group of future stars on our hands?
Jimmie Rivera defeated Cody Stamann by unanimous decision in the featured bout. Stamann fought just five weeks earlier and won. Was it too soon for a second fight under these circumstances?
Bellator is back next week after five months away, with Bellator 242 taking place July 24. We take a look at the card and offer some thoughts.
Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio, or check it out above. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.
Thoughts and analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC on ESPN 13, which took place Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 13 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. Calvin Kattar proves he belongs
[autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] left no doubt about his position as a top featherweight with his win over Dan Ige in the main event. Yes, we knew he was good before the unanimous decision, but the performance answered some critical questions about exactly where he fits in.
Kattar’s win over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 was a highlight-reel finish, but “Lil’ Heathen” is on a five-fight slide, so it’s hard to quantify what that really means. Ige, meanwhile, brought a six-fight winning streak into the matchup and all the momentum a fighter could ask for.
That momentum was brought to a halt by Kattar, who showed off his slick boxing, durability and conditioning to go five rounds at a strong pace. Those are all tools “The Boston Finisher” will need if he wants to make it to the very top of the stacked 145-pound division. Kattar has solid fight IQ and knows how to fight to his strengths, though, and that will take him a long way.
At this point it’s almost impossible to pick a bad fight for Kattar when sifting through the rest of the division’s contenders. That’s a credit to his style, and unless something dramatic changes, Kattar is going to be part of the conversation at featherweight for years to come.
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC on ESPN 13, which saw Calvin Kattar beat Dan Ige in the main event in Abu Dhabi.
The second in UFC’s string of “Fight Island” events went down on Wednesday with UFC on ESPN 13, which took place at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
[autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (22-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) continued to surge as a featherweight contender in the main event when he outworked [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) to a unanimous decision. Both men showed great toughness in the fight, and that was a theme throughout the evening.
For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for
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General
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UFC on ESPN 13 became the second event in UFC history to feature zero knockdowns. UFC Fight Night 9 in April 2007 was the other.
[autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag], [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag], [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] and [autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag] earned $50,000 UFC on ESPN 13 fight-night bonuses.
UFC on ESPN 13 drew an announced attendance of zero for a live gate of $0.
Betting favorites went 7-4 on the card.
Betting favorites improved to 12-6 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:05:42.
Main card
Dan Ige
Ige has suffered all three of his career losses by decision.
Ige failed to complete a takedown for the first time in his UFC career.
[autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag] (16-11-1 MMA, 5-9 UFC) snapped his three-fight losing skid for his first victory since December 2017.
Elliott improved to 3-5 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in December 2016.
Elliott has earned four of his five UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] (10-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) has suffered five of his seven career losses by decision.
[autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] (23-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has earned 17 of his 23 career victories by decision. That includes six of his seven UFC wins.
[autotag]Cody Stamann[/autotag] (19-3-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) has suffered two of his three career losses by decision.
Alhassan (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) has suffered both of his career losses by decision.
Preliminary card
Khamzat Chimaev
Chimaev (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned all of his career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]John Phillips[/autotag] (22-10 MMA, 1-4 UFC) has suffered eight of his 10 career losses by stoppage.
Phillips has suffered three of his four UFC losses by submission.
[autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) fell to 1-1 since he moved up to the featherweight division in November.
Ramos has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage. He’s been knocked out in both of his UFC defeats.
Bukauskas (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned 10 of his 11 career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]Andreas Michailidis[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered all four of his career losses by knockout.
[autotag]Jarred Gordon[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has earned three of his four UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag] (18-4-1 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has suffered all three of his UFC losses by stoppage.
[autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag] (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has earned seven of her eight career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag] (11-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has suffered five of her six career losses by stoppage.
Belbita has suffered all five of his career stoppage losses by submission.
[autotag]Jack Shore[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned 12 of his 13 career victories by stoppage. He’s finished both of his UFC wins by submission.
[autotag]Aaron Phillips[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC) was unsuccessful in his return to the octagon.
Phillips’ skid in UFC competition was extended to three fights. He went 0-2 in his previous tenure in 2014.
Phillips suffered the first submission loss of his career.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
Take a look inside Mounir Lazzez’s win over Abdul Razak Alhassan at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.
ABU DHABI – [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag] beat Abdul Razak Alhassan with a unanimous decision Wednesday to open up the main card at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.
Take a look inside the fight with Lazzez, who won for the third straight time in his promotional debut.
“I love to be the underdog and to show my skill, and that’s exactly what happened (Wednesday). I came in as the underdog, and I enjoy the victory. When he put me in the first round against the cage, I said, ‘What, this is all that you’ve got?’ I still have a lot of weapons, and just step by step, I killed his will with the kicks, moving around, high kick, low kick – I showed my wrestling, my takedown defense.”
Lazzez on winning the mental game
“I kept visualizing this over and over as just another fight. Don’t put pressure on yourself and just go enjoy what you do. I love this craft. I love when I get clipped and I see the will inside the eye of my opponent. That mental game – I love that. I love that deep water stuff. My mental game, I’ve said it before – maybe you can be more technical and maybe you can be more powerful, but my will and my mental game, you can’t beat it.”
Lazzez on what he wants next
“I’m healthy – 100 percent. I swear to God, I’m ready to go in two weeks. But I’ll let my management speak to the UFC, and when that idiot (Mike Perry) is ready, I’m ready to go.”
To hear more from Lazzez, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
Khamzat Chimaev and Mounir Lazzez were among those who name-dropped their preferred next opponents at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.
Earning wins in the UFC is certainly no easy task, but what comes next is often even more important: the post-fight callout.
So after Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event in Abu Dhabi, who took advantage of their time on the mic? See below for this week’s Callout Collection – and just how realistic each one is.
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First up, let’s take a look at the preliminary card …
Khamzat Chimaev
Wants to fight:[autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag]
The callout: “I never felt in trouble, I do this with all my opponents, I smash them all, first round, second round. I have seven wins, seven finishes. I could fight next week if they have. I told them, give me Donald Cerrone. If they give me (him) it’d be an amazing fight for me. I’m gonna smash him and everybody going to talk about it.”
The reality: [autotag]Khamzat Chamaev[/autotag] made quite the impression on his UFC debut as he totally dominated John Phillips en route to a second-round submission victory. He showed his confidence and ambition in his post-fight interviews, too, as he called for a shot at one of the UFC’s biggest fan-favorite fighters.
Following his middleweight win on “UFC Fight Island,” a matchup against Cerrone would represent the chance for Chimaev to prove his credentials and make an instant impact in his optimal weight class of welterweight, but it seems unlikely that the UFC would throw him in with one of the sport’s biggest names in just his second fight for the promotion.
It seems more likely that the UFC will build Chimaev gradually, most likely against international opposition, for his next couple of fights. A matchup with someone like Gunnar Nelson would offer a fascinating test of his credentials. If he handles “Gunni” as well as he did Phillips, the wait for bigger-name tests likely won’t be long.
Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the octagon the first time. How did the four newcomers perform Wednesday?
Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the UFC octagon for the first time. For four athletes, Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event marked that special moment in their respective careers.
Check out this week’s rookie report to see what kind of first impression they made on the sport’s biggest stage from Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
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Modestas Bukauskas
Division: Light heavyweight Result: Modestas Bukauskas def. Andreas Michailidis via TKO (retirement) – Round 1 Record: (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) Grade: B+
Former Cage Warriors light heavyweight champion Modestas Bukauskas claimed a first-round TKO finish on his octagon debut with a finish that was a near carbon copy of the one that earned him his shot on the big stage.
Back at Cage Warriors 111 in November 2019 Bukauskas finished Riccardo Nosiglia with a barrage of powerful elbows against the cage to retain his light heavyweight title. That win saw him earn a call-up to the UFC, and Bukauskas turned to his elbows once again to score a very similar finish at the end of Round 1.
Bukauskas looked loose and relaxed from the start of his matchup against Andrea Michailidis, but took a little time to calibrate his punching range, with some of his early combinations falling short. But as the round progressed he started to make adjustments and step into his combinations. When he did, he showed a noticeable speed advantage.
That’s not to say he didn’t have to deal with some adversity, too. The London-based Lithuanian got clipped a few times by some solid Michailidis shots, but looked untroubled by them as he closed the distance and put the pressure on the Greek debutant before finishing him with the same elbows he produced in Cage Warriors last year.
All in all, it was a solid, impressive start to life in the UFC, and it will be interesting to watch his continued development in the octagon over the coming months.
Next up: Move to 205 doesn’t pay off for “The Spartan”
UFC on ESPN 13 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that launched after the UFC’s deal with Reebok.
ABU DHABI – Fighters from Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $97,000.
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 on ESPN 13 took place at Flash Forum. The card aired streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN.
The full UFC on ESPN 13 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Reebok’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 $3,500 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,000; 6-10 bouts get $5,000; 11-15 bouts earn $10,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $15,000; and 21 bouts and more get $20,000. Additionally, champions earn $40,000 while title challengers get $30,000.
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 2020 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a UFC win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.
Inside, see what the fighters from UFC on ESPN 13 went with as their backing tracks in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
Abdul Razak Alhassan and Mounir Lazzez had a 15-minute scrap, but only Lazzez was eligible for a “Fight of the Night” bonus.
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] and [autotag]Mounir Lazzez [/autotag]put on a 15-minute fireworks display to kick of the main card of UFC on ESPN 13 on Wednesday night.
Both competitors dished it out as good as they could give it, but Lazzez (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) weathered Alhassan’s strongest flurries at the outset and then found his pace, slowly turning the fight into his favor before winning a unanimous decision.
The entertaining display in Abu Dhabi was enough to earn the bout “Fight of the Night.” But there’s a twist. Alhassan missed weight Tuesday, coming in at 174 pounds for a scheduled welterweight fight. And that meant only Lazzez will take home an extra $50,000 from the fight.
[lawrence-related id=535414,535411,535504]
Alhassan’s mistake opened the way for three “Performance of the Night” awards, and as it turned out, there were plenty of those to go around.
Earning $50,000 for “POTN”:
Lerone Murphy (9-0-1 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC), who stayed unbeaten with a first-round upset TKO of Ricardo Ramos in a featherweight fight.
Highly touted Khamzat Chimaev (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who lived up to the hype with his second-round finish of John Phillips as a short-notice replacement at middleweight.
Modestas Bukauskas (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who stopped Andreas Michailidis after the first round with a TKO in their undercard bout.
UFC on ESPN 13 was held at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. It aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
In the main event, [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) takes on [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in a featherweight bout. Kattar is more than a 3-1 favorite, and he’s got a big 11-3 lead in the picks from our 14 editors, writers, videographers and radio hosts.
In the co-main event, [autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] (10-6 MMA, 3-4 UFC) meets former flyweight title challenger [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag] (15-11-1 MMA, 4-9 UFC). Elliott is just a slight favorite, but he’s got a big 10-4 picks advantage.
Also on the main card, [autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] (22-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) fights [autotag]Cody Stamann[/autotag] (19-2-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC) in a bantamweight bout. Although it’s Rivera with a slight edge at the sportsbooks, it’s Stamann with a 10-4 rout in our picks.
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) takes on [autotag]Taila Santos[/autotag] (15-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a women’s flyweight fight that is a virtual pick’em from the oddsmakers. But despite that, McCann is our closest thing to a unanimous pick with a 13-1 lead from our staff members.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is the biggest favorite on the main card, and he’s got a big 12-2 picks lead over promotional newcomer [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag] (9-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who is fighting what amounts to a home bout.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Kattar (75 percent), Elliott (59 percent), Stamann (59 percent), McCann (67 percent) and Alhassan (87 percent) are the choices.
