UFC Fight Night 237 post-event facts: Yair Rodriguez hits unprecedented career slump

Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 237, which saw Yair Rodriguez hit the first losing skid of his career.

The UFC’s final event of February took place Saturday with UFC Fight Night 237 at Mexico City Arena in Mexico.

A flyweight contender re-emerged in the main event, when replacement headliner [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag] (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) exacted revenge on former UFC champ [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag] (21-8-2 MMA, 9-4-2 UFC) with a split decision victory in their rematch from November 2020.

For more on the numbers to come out of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 237.

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UFC Fight Night 237 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Headliners get combined $17,000

UFC Fight Night 237 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.

MEXICO CITY – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 237 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $135,500.

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 237 took place at Mexico City Arena. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 237 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Fransisco Prado[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Yazmin Jauregui[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Sam Hughes[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Manuel Torres[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Chris Duncan[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Raoni Barcelos[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Cristian Quinonez[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Jesus Aguilar[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Mateus Mendonca[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Edgar Chairez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Daniel Lacerda[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Fares Ziam[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Claudio Puelles[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Ronaldo Rodriguez[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Denys Bondar[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Felipe dos Santos[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Victor Altamirano[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Erik Silva[/autotag]: $4,000

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 2371 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: $1,228,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $23,935,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

Opening UFC Fight Night 237 bout ends in seconds after Erik Silva injured

UFC Fight Night 237 got off to an anticlimactic start as Erik Silva suffered a freak injury against Muhammad Naimov.

[autotag]Erik Silva[/autotag]’s attempt to redeem himself after a failed promotional debut quickly turned into a nightmare during the UFC Fight Night 237 card opener Saturday in Mexico City.

The bout only lasted 44 seconds as Silva (9-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) suffered an apparent left leg injury as he stepped backward during his featherweight prelim against [autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC).

A replay appeared to show an abnormal shift in the knee area. Silva clinched Naimov initially, but eventually fell to the canvas and covered up as Naimov threw a couple punches. Referee Fernando Salas recognized something was not right and waved off the fight.

Silva, 36, is still is search of his first UFC win. He lost his debut by third-round submission against TJ Brown in December 2022.

Naimov, 29, remains unbeaten in the UFC with wins over Silva, Nathaniel Wood and Jamie Mullarkey.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

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.

Muhammad Naimov wants Alex Caceres or Edson Barboza next – and has particularly bad intentions for one after UFC 294

Muhammad Naimov had a pretty trying day ahead of his UFC 294 win over Nathaniel Wood in Abu Dhabi. Now he has two big callouts.

ABU DHABI – [autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag] beat Nathaniel Wood with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 294 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Take a look inside the fight with Naimov, who now has two five-fight winning streaks sandwiched around the lone two losses of his career.

UFC 294 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Khamzat Chimaev gets $6,000 in return bout

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 294 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $237,000.

ABU DHABI – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 294 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $237,000.

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 294 took place at Etihad Arena. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+ and YouTube.

The full UFC 294 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

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[autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag]: $42,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag]: $42,000

[autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]: $11,000
vs. [autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Ikram Aliskerov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Warlley Alves[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Said Nurmagomedov[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Muin Gafurov[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Muhammad Mokaev[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Trevor Peek[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Mohammad Yahya[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,500
vs. [autotag]Victor Henry[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Sedriques Dumas[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Abu Azaitar[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Mike Breeden[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Anshul Jubli[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Viktoriia Dudakova[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Jinh Yu Frey[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Shara Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Bruno Silva[/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 $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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,888,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $21,407,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.

UFC 294 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC 294 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Abu DHabi.

ABU DHABI – UFC 294 took place Saturday with 13 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

You can hear from all the UFC 294 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.

Muhammad Naimov def. Nathaniel Wood at UFC 294: Best photos from Abu Dhabi

Check out the best photos from Muhammad Naimov’s unanimous decision win over Nathaniel Wood at UFC 294 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag] at UFC 294 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. (Photos by Craig Kidwell, USA TODAY Sports; MMA Junkie; and UFC)

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Sept. 11-17)

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 the promotions from Sept. 11-17.

Nathaniel Wood to fight Muhammad Naimov at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi

Nathaniel Wood will look to make it four wins in a row at UFC 294.

[autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag] has his next UFC assignment.

Wood (19-5 MMA, 7-2 UFC) will look to push his winning streak to four when he meets [autotag]Muhammad Naimov[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a featherweight bout Oct. 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi. Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking Saturday but asked to remain anonymous since the UFC hasn’t made an announcement.

Wood, 30, a former Cage Warriors champion, is coming off a unanimous decision win against Andre Fili in a brawl this past July. Prior to that, Wood also won decisions against Charles Jourdain and Charles Rosa.

Naimov, 29, is on a four-fight winning streak, which includes most recently a second-round submission of Jamie Mullarkey in his UFC debut this past June.

With the addition, the UFC 294 lineup includes:

  • Champ Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira – for lightweight title
  • Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa
  • Ikram Aliskerov vs. Nassourdine Imavov
  • Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
  • Tim Elliott vs. Muhammad Mokaev
  • Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
  • Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Bruno Silva
  • Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Jinh Yu Frey
  • Trevor Peek vs. Mohammad Yahya
  • Javid Basharat vs. Victor Henry
  • Muhammad Naimov vs. Nathaniel Wood

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.