Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Nora Cornolle handed Melissa Mullins the first loss of her career at UFC Fight Night 240 in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag] beat Melissa Mullins with a second-round TKO Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Cornolle, who handed Mullins the first loss of her career.
UFC Fight Night 240 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 Fight Night 240 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $162,500.
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 240 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 240 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Hernandez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Chepe Mariscal[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ignacio Bahamondes[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Christos Giagos[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevor Peek[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Court McGee[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Lukasz Brzeski[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Valter Walker[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Falcao[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Melissa Mullins[/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 2401 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: $2,005,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,742,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 240 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 240 took place Saturday with 12 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 Fight Night 240 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Nora Cornolle hurt Melissa Mullins with a knee, and she wasted no time to take advantage.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag] hurt [autotag]Melissa Mullins[/autotag] with a knee, and she wasted no time to take advantage.
Cornolle (8-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) hit Mullins (6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with a knee to the liver in short range, then poured on the punishment to hand Mullins the first loss of her career. Cornolle’s finish came at the 3:06 mark of the second round.
Their fight opened UFC Fight Night 240 (ESPN+) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout was at a 138-pound contract weight after both fighters were going to miss weight Friday.
“It feels so good. I’m so happy,” Cornolle said in her post-fight interview. “Melissa, I knew she was tough. The English girls are tough – it’s just a dogfight. That’s what she gave me. I’m so happy I could get the finish.”
After a competitive first round, Cornolle hit Mullins with a head kick midway through the second, and not long after landed the knee. Mullins quickly started to hunch over, and Cornolle moved in with a pair of head kicks and a couple punches once she hit the ground for the finish.
Other than her UFC debut in front of her home fans in Paris in 2023, a decision win over Joselyn Edwards, all of Cornolle’s wins have been finishes.
Check out her latest stoppage, part of her eight-fight winning streak, below.
Action heating up EARLY 🔥
Nora Cornolle ends it in Round 2 with the KO! #UFCVegas90 pic.twitter.com/1YEdXvHdbz
— UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2024
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
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.
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.
Nora Cornolle’s fairytale ending would be to face Jacqueline Cavalcanti for the title – the only fighter to beat her.
PARIS – [autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]’s fairytale ending would be to face [autotag]Jacqueline Cavalcanti[/autotag] for the title – the only fighter to beat her.
Cornolle (7-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Cavalcanti (6-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) both competed on this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 event at Accor Arena in Paris, but not against each other. Cornolle defeated Joselyne Edwards by unanimous decision, whereas Cavalcanti defeated Zarah Fairn to kick off the night.
Cornolle’s loss to Cavalcanti came in her professional MMA debut. She has since won seven straight and prefers to get her rematch once they’ve both established themselves in the UFC.
“It will be great storytelling to meet Jacqueline at the top for the belt,” Cornolle told reporters through an interpreter at the UFC Fight Night 226 post-fight news conference. “That each one of us goes their own path because it makes sense for us to face other new fighters, face more experienced fighters in our path. It will be great to face each other and get my revenge.”
Cornolle has already competed four times this year, and hopes to squeeze in one more before the end of 2023.
“I hope to fight again before the end of the year,” Cornolle said. “I have a four-fight contract, and I’m willing to do them well. I hope I introduced myself in this fight, and that they’ll offer me something soon.
“I want to quickly climb the rankings, show that I’m effective everywhere. That I’m a real MMA fighter that’s going to perform, that’s going to climb the rankings, that’s going to go get the belt.”
Cornolle was showered with love from her home crowd in France, which surpassed her expectations.
“All week I’ve been thinking that I’ve never experienced a crowd like this, an arena like this,” Cornolle said. “A lot of stress because we don’t know what kind of crowd we’ll get. The beautiful surprise was to have all the French fans, all of Paris tonight chanting my name. It was incredible.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 226, such as Rose Namajunas being on the first true losing skid of her career.
The UFC’s second trip to Paris was another significant event for French MMA with UFC Fight Night 226 going down Saturday at Accor Arena.
Multiple French fighters on the card thrived, but none more than former interim UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC, who thrived in the main event with a second-round TKO of [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) to rebound from his loss against Jon Jones earlier this year.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 226.
* * * *
UFC Fight Night 226 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
PARIS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $128,500.
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 226 took place at the Accor Arena in France. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 226 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Thiago Moises[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Bogdan Guskov[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yanis Ghemmouri[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Manolo Zecchini[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Caolan Loughran[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ange Loosa[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Rhys McKee[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kleydson Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jacqueline Cavalcanti[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Zarah Fairn[/autotag]: $4,500
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 2261 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: $5,735,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $20,324,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
Nora Cornolle said she’s got nothing to lose, everything to prove and has no pressure heading into her UFC debut.
PARIS – [autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag] said she’s got nothing to lose, everything to prove and has no pressure heading into her UFC debut.
Cornolle (6-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) said she feels honored to have her first fight in the promotion come against someone with more experience than her. Joselyne Edwards (13-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC), whom Cornolle fights in a women’s bantamweight matchup, has a three-fight winning streak and six fights in the UFC. But she’s not worried that Edwards has back-to-back weight misses at 135 pounds. She’s ready for her UFC debut no matter the circumstance.
Cornolle talked about that and more at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 226 media day in Paris.
Check out the full interview in the video above. UFC Fight Night 226 takes place Saturday at Accor Arena and is the UFC’s second visit to France. The event streams on ESPN+.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
