A matchup between two welterweight finishers, Niko Price and Muslim Salikhov, is the latest addition to UFC Portland.
A matchup between two welterweight finishers is the latest addition to UFC Portland.
[autotag]Niko Price[/autotag] (14-3-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC) will take on [autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC on ESPN+ 30 in Portland. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report from ESPN.
UFC on ESPN+ 30 takes place April 11 at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. The card is expected to stream on ESPN+.
Price has split his last four appearances but has picked up two performance bonuses with knockout wins over Tim Means and James Vick. He has finished all six of his UFC wins.
Salikhov is also a proven finisher, having only gone the distance twice in his MMA career. Since dropping his UFC debut in 2017, Salikhov has won his last three in a row, including back-to-back knockouts over Ricky Rainey and Nordine Taleb.
With the addition, the current UFC on ESPN+ 30 lineup includes:
A full recap of 2019’s most significant footnotes and milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
Now that the year has come to a close, and with a major assist from UFC research analyst and live statistics producers Michael Carroll, here are some of 2019’s most significant milestones from the events, the fights and individual performances.
* * * *
EVENTS
Octagon girls at UFC 238
The UFC held 42 events in 39 different cities across 15 countries and five continents.
Within those events, there were 516 fights across 13 different weight classes (including catchweight bouts).
Those 516 fights combined for a total cage time of 94:59:04.
The longest event of the year was “UFC on ESPN+ 19: Joanna vs. Waterson” in Tampa, Fla., at 2:57:27. It was the second longest in company history behind “UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum vs. Tybura” (3:04:18).
The shortest event of the year was “UFC on ESPN 3: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos” in Minneapolis at 1:38:12.
“UFC on ESPN+ 13: de Randamie vs. Ladd” featured 62 seconds of total fight time in the main and co-main event, the single-event record in company history.
At those events, the UFC drew an announced total attendance of 548,023 for a live gate total of $61,050,133.74 (Note: Live gate was not announced for 11 events; no attendance was revealed for one event).
The highest reported attended event of the year was “UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya” in Melbourne (57,127), which was the all-time company record, while the lowest attended event was “UFC on ESPN+ 20: Maia vs. Askren” in Singapore (7,155).
The highest reported income gate of the year was “UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz” in New York ($6,575,996.19) while the lowest reported income gate of the year went to “UFC on ESPN+ 4: Lewis vs. Dos Santos” in Wichita, Kan. ($636,417.26).
In 2019, 168 fight-night bonuses were given out for a sum of $8.4 million.
The most knockouts at a single event went to “UFC on ESPN 3: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos,” “UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz” and “UFC 245: Usman vs. Covington” with seven each.
Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes
“UFC 238: Cejudo vs. Moraes” featured a total of 1,818 significant strikes landed, a new single-event record. UFC 231 held the previous high with 1,647.
The most submissions at a single event went to “UFC on ESPN 5: Covington vs. Lawler” with five.
The most fights to go to a decision at a single event went to “UFC on ESPN 4: Dos Anjos vs. Edwards” with 10.
“UFC on ESPN 4: Dos Anjos vs. Edwards” featured nine consecutive decision results, tied for the single-event UFC record.
“UFC on ESPN 4: Dos Anjos vs. Edwards” started with nine consecutive decision results, the single-event record.
“UFC on ESPN 7: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik” marked the third event in company history to feature two draws. UFC 22 and UFC 216 were the others.
Betting favorites went 319-182. Fifteen fights ended in a draw, no contest or had even odds.
Betting favorites went 22-18 in event headliners. Two fights ended in a no contest or had even odds.
“UFC on ESPN 3: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos” and “UFC on ESPN+ 22: Blachowicz vs. Jacare” had the most favorites come through victorious, with 10 each. On the flip side, seven underdogs won at three separate events.
Aspen Ladd
A total of 30 fighters officially missed weight for their respective contests. The 28 fighters in that group to compete went 10-17-1 in their respective bouts.
A total of 135 fighters made their UFC debut in 2019. Those fighters went 57-74-2 with two no contests. Debuting fighters who faced an opponent with at least one bout of UFC experience went 43-58-2 with two no contests.
A variety of circumstances caused a total of 19 UFC main event or co-main event fights to be adjusted, postponed or canceled entirely.
One entire event was canceled (UFC 233 in January in Anaheim, Calif.)
Here are the top five honorable mentions and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Knockout of the Year” award for 2019.
With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best knockouts from January to December. Here are the top five and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Knockout of the Year” award for 2019.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice for “Knockout of the Year.”
* * * *
Honorable mentions
6. Niko Price def. James Vick at UFC on ESPN+ 19
Known for his creative violence, [autotag]Niko Price[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) did not disappoint in his welterweight matchup against James Vick (13-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in October, scoring a knockout with a rarely-successful technique at the top level.
After absorbing some hard shots from Vick on the canvas, Price improvised and sent his foot toward the chin of Vick. A bone-chilling thud sounded as his foot hit Vick flush on the face. Vick’s bloody, unconscious body crumpled onto Price, who landed a few short shots to his already out opponent, and the fight was stopped in less than two minutes.
[autotag]Douglas Lima[/autotag] (32-7 MMA, 14-3 BMMA) respected Michael Page (17-1 MMA, 13-1 BMMA) in the lead-up to their Bellator welterweight grand prix semifinal matchup in May, but the former two-time champion felt strongly that his experience and striking power would make a difference, and he was right.
Lima gave “MVP” a rude welcome to a new level of competition when he scored an absolutely sickening knockout to make the grand prix final. The Brazilian set it up when he dropped Page with a perfectly timed low kick. As Page attempted to stand up, Lima uncorked a beautiful left hand that landed clean and brought an end to Page’s unbeaten run in MMA.
4. Davy Gallon def. Ross Pearson at “MTK MMA: Probellum”
Ross Pearson (20-17) had a rude welcome back to MMA from his retirement courtesy of the unheralded [autotag]Davy Gallon[/autotag] (18-7-2), who in November delivered what could go down as an all-time knockout to occur outside of a major organization.
The lightweight fight was relatively competitive for more than two rounds. In the closing stages of the third, though, Gallon went airborne and unleashed a rolling thunder kick. The heel landed flush on Pearson’s face, and “The Ultimate Fighter 9” winner was immediately knocked out in a shocking finish.
3. Valentina Shevchenko def. Jessica Eye at UFC 238
[autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) got her UFC women’s flyweight title reign off to a good start in June, when she made an example of overmatched challenger Jessica Eye (15-7 MMA, 5-6 UFC) with a brutal knockout.
Shevchenko kept her firm grip on the 125-pound strap when, as one of the biggest betting favorites in UFC title history, “The Bullet” delivered a highlight-reel head kick knockout of Eye in the second round of the contest. Eye was down on the canvas for quite some time after the kick connected, but fortunately came out OK.
2. Anthony Pettis def. Stephen Thompson at UFC on ESPN+ 6
Former UFC and WEC lightweight champ [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag] (22-9 MMA, 9-8 UFC) made a splash in his welterweight debut in March when he upset former title challenger Stephen Thompson (15-4-1 MMA, 10-4-1 UFC) with a brutal knockout.
After getting picked apart and bloodied for the majority of two rounds, Pettis showed his trademark “Showtime” creativity when he bounced off the octagon fence and proceeded to take off with a superman hook punch that caught Thompson completely off guard and put his lights out for the first time in his career.
The most hyped grudge match heading into UFC 239 in July ended in the fastest and perhaps most violent knockout in the history of the UFC.
Veteran welterweight [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag] (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) used a hellacious flying knee coming out of the gate to knock Ben Askren (19-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) cold.
The time of the stoppage officially was at the 0:05 mark of the opening round. That beat, by one-second, Duane Ludwig’s record, set in a victory over Jonathan Goulet in 2006.
“I really wanted to beat his ass for 14 minutes and 30 seconds, but it didn’t happen, so back to business,” Masvidal said.
Masvidal, with his hands behind his back, came out at an odd angle and charged at Askren, who attempted to duck under it.
[lawrence-related id=420337,427472]
Instead, the knee landed flush on Askren’s ear, knocking him stiff to the mat. Masvidal landed two more punches to the clearly unconscious Askren before the referee could step in and wave things off.
Masvidal taunted Askren as doctors rushed into the cage to attend to his foe, with whom he had engaged in quite a bit of trash talk leading up to the fight.
“That dude was talking wild, man,” Masvidal said. “I have to show you there’s consequences sometimes, there’s some bad (expletive) out there.”
The victory was by far the biggest in the career of Masvidal, a longtime presence on the scene who is finally breaking through to the top. It also marked the first career loss for Askren, the former Bellator and ONE welterweight titleholder. After regaining consciousness, Askren left the cage under his own power.
