Tag: Pat Sabatini

Pat Sabatini credits mental game for doing more than just make him a better fighter

Pat Sabatini rebounded from a first-round knockout loss to Diego Lopes for one of just two upsets at UFC Fight Night 244.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag] beat Jonathan Pearce with a first-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Sabatini, who rebounded from a first-round knockout loss to Diego Lopes.

Pat Sabatini def. Jonathan Pearce

Pat Sabatini

Result: Pat Sabatini def. Jonathan Pearce via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:06
Updated records: Sabatini (19-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC), Pearce (14-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC)
Key stats: Sabatini controlled all but 10 seconds of the fight and was one of only two upset winners on the card.

Sabatini on the fight’s key moment

Pat Sabatini def. Jonathan Pearce, UFC Fight Night 244 (via UFC)

“I would say I’m happy, but it’s just not cutting it. It’s way, way beyond that. I’m ecstatic. I am thrilled. Right now, it’s just another level of happiness. This is why I do it – this feeling right here. With this sport – and this is the reason why I do this sport – when the actual win is great, but it’s overcoming myself and becoming a better person, better fighter and evolving as a person – and I feel like I took a nice step tonight.”

Sabatini on his personal growth

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 12: (L-R) Pat Sabatini battles Jonathan Pearce in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“I fell down, and instead of falling down and staying down, I chose to get back up and turn into a better fighter, better person, and it showed tonight. This sport’s so much more mental than physical – it’s crazy. I had to get uncomfortable in order to get to that next level.

“… Working with a sports psychologist – I actually just got off the phone with him; I had to give him a call and be like, ‘Hey, our stuff worked’ – it gives you the tactics and the actual tools to stay present and just put yourself in the best possible position to perform at your best.

“I think ego for a lot of people gets in the way of voicing it, but I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been a prisoner in my own mind. I’ve been the ruler of my own mind. The mind is everything in this game.”

Sabatini on what he wants next

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 11: Diego Lopes of Brazil punches Pat Sabatini in a featherweight fight during the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

“I do have two losses in the UFC. I would love to avenge either one of them or both, even if it comes in time. I have no names in particular, no times in particular, but you can best believe I’m going to stay ready. It could be it could be in Australia, it could be here in Vegas, it could be in Bristol, Pa. – doesn’t matter.”

To hear more from Sabatini, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

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UFC Fight Night 244 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Brad Tavares gets $21,000 in record bout

UFC Fight Night 244 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 244 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $186,000.

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 Fight Night 244 took place at the UFC Apex. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 244 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tatsuro Taira[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]JunYong Park[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Brad Tavares[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Chidi Njokuani[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Rafa Garcia[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Ramazan Temirov[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]CJ Vergara[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jonathan Pearce[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Themba Gorimbo[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Niko Price[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Junior Tafa[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Sean Sharaf[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Julia Polastri[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Cory McKenna[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Cody Haddon[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Clayton Carpenter[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Lucas Rocha[/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 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,630; 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 $32,000 while title challengers get $42,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-63 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,488,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $29,225,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

UFC Fight Night 244 video: Pat Sabatini scores standing choke of Jonathan Pearce

Pat Sabatini declared his grappling as the best at featherweight after he tapped Jonathan Pearce in Round 1 at UFC Fight Night 244.

[autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag] caught [autotag]Jonathan Pearce[/autotag] in a compromising position in the opening round of their UFC Fight Night 244 bout and didn’t relent until he got the finish.

Sabatini (19-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) displayed his grappling prowess when he got the back of Pearce (14-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) from a standing position early in their featherweight bout at the UFC Apex. He methodically worked away at a rear-naked choke until he finally got the arm under the neck and forced. his opponent to tap at the 4:06 mark of Round 1.

Check out the replay of the finish below (via X):

With the win, Sabatini rebounds from a 90-second knockout defeat to Diego Lopes in November. Pearce, meanwhile, is suddenly on a three-fight losing skid after he was named MMA Junkie’s “Under-the-Radar Fighter of the Year” in 2022.

“I think I have an edge over everybody in this division on the ground,” Sabatini said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “(I want to fight again) sooner rather than later.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 244 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

UFC Fight Night 244 adds Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini to lineup

Veteran UFC featherweights Jonathan Pearce and Pat Sabatini will look to reenter the win column.

[autotag]Jonathan Pearce[/autotag] and [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag] will collide this fall.

At three-round bout between the two featherweights is set for UFC Fight Night 244 on Oct. 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie. The people asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Pearce (14-6 MMA, 5-3 UFC) aims to snap a two-fight skid. After a five-fight winning streak in the UFC from 2020 to 2022, Pearce hit a bumps in the road against Joanderson Brito in November 2023 and David Onama in May 2024.

Sabatini (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) will return to action for the first time in 11 months, since a knockout loss to Diego Lopes. Prior to that fight, Sabatini defeated Lucas Almeida by submission.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for Oct. 12 includes:

  • Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira
  • Jonathan Pearce vs. Pat Sabatini
  • Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price
  • Jun Yong Park vs. Brad Tavares
  • Cory McKenna vs. Polyana Viana
  • Grant Dawson vs. Rafa Garcia
  • Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd
  • Jared Gooden vs. Chidi Njokuani
  • Chris Barnett vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
  • Ramazonbek Temirov vs. CJ Vergara
  • Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the UFC Fight Night 244.

FURY Pro Grappling 8 announced: Aljamain Sterling, 7 other UFC veterans to compete

The grappling series run by CFFC continues its tradition of a year-end event full of UFC notables.

FURY Pro Grappling’s tradition of a year-end card filled with UFC notables past and present continues.

Eight UFC veterans, including former UFC bantamweight champion [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag], have been booked for the FURY Pro Grappling 8 lineup, the promotion announced Tuesday.

FURY Pro Grappling 8 takes place Dec. 30 at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

Sterling will compete against [autotag]Kevin Dantzler[/autotag], a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who is 5-0 under the FURY Pro Grappling banner. Dantzer previously defeated Sterling’s friend and training partner Merab Dvalishvili at FURY Pro Grappling 2 in October 2021.

The co-feature is a big one, at least physically, as former UFC heavyweight [autotag]Chris Daukaus[/autotag] grapples current UFC heavyweight [autotag]Alexandr Romanov[/autotag]. Also on the card are [autotag]Eryk Anders[/autotag], [autotag]Kyle Daukaus[/autotag], [autotag]Niko Price[/autotag], [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag], and [autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag].

The full FURY Pro Grappling 8 lineup includes:

  • Aljamain Sterling vs. Kevin Dantzler
  • Chris Daukaus vs. Alexandr Romanov
  • Eryk Anders vs. Kyle Daukaus
  • Niko Price vs. Pat Sabatini
  • Amanda Mazza vs. Elyse Shaw
  • Fatima Kline vs. Cindy Ung
  • Charlie Campbell vs. Lee Moringo
  • Aidan Burke vs. Santo Curatolo
  • Paul Capaldo vs. Cameron Scalio

UFC 295 medical suspensions: Jiri Prochazka, Sergei Pavlovich among 19 suspended indefinitely

Nineteen indefinite suspensions were handed out after UFC 295, per the New York State Athletic Commission.

UFC 295 took place Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York and featured 13 fights.

On Monday, MMA Junkie acquired a list of athlete medical suspensions from the New York State Athletic Commission, the sanctioning body that oversaw the event. Most injury specifics were not disclosed.

Nineteen of the 26 combatants were given indefinite suspensions and will need to be cleared by a doctor before they return. That’s a high number of indefinite suspensions compared to the average UFC event, although the NYSAC may have different safety protocols compared to other regulatory bodies. All 26 fighters were also given mandatory suspensions, which vary from seven days to 90 days.

Check out the full list of medical suspensions from UFC 295 below.

UFC 295 post-event facts: Alex Pereira joins exclusive two-title club in record time

The best facts from UFC 295, which saw Alex Pereira join the two-division title club in less fights than the eight names before him.

The UFC’s penultimate numbered event of the year, UFC 295 from Madison Square Garden in New York, proved to be arguably the best of the bunch.

Two new champions were crowned to close out a lineup that saw eight stoppages in 13 fights. In the main event, [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) picked up the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag] (29-4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), while [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) claimed the interim heavyweight strap in the co-main event with a 69-second knockout of [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] (17-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC).

For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC 295.

UFC 295 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Title fight athletes net $32,000 each

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 295 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $272,500.

NEW YORK – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 295 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $272,500.

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 295 took place at Madison Square Garden. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

The full UFC 295 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag]: $32,000
def. [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Matt Frevola[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Steve Erceg[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Alessandro Costa[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Loopy Godinez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tabatha Ricci[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Mateusz Rebecki[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Roosevelt Roberts[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Nazim Sadykhov[/autotag]: $4,000
vs. [autotag]Viacheslav Borshchev[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Mark Madsen[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]John Castaneda[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Kyung Ho Kang[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kevin Borjas[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Jamall Emmers[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Dennis Buzukja[/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 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: $7,305,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $21,824,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

UFC 295 results: Diego Lopes smashes Pat Sabatini with brutal knockout in 90 seconds

Diego Lopes is a budding UFC star, and he showed why with a brutal knockout Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

NEW YORK – [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] is approaching UFC star status, if he’s not there already.

Already with an increased level of popularity and buzz compared to his fellow two-UFC-fight counterparts, Lopes (23-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) kicked off the UFC 295 main card vs. [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag] (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC), whom he blasted with a brutal barrage of knockout blows until the stoppage at 1:30 of Round 1.

In the final moments of the fight, Lopes successfully defended a takedown attempt and cranked Sabatini with an uppercut. The blow sent Sabatini backward as he staggered and crashed into the cage. Sabatini hit the canvas, and Lopes continued to pound the consciousness out of him.

Lopes attracted initial attention from a loss in his short notice debut when he put forth a competitive decision outing against ranked Movsar Evloev, an above-average tough first assignment. In August, he submitted Gavin Tucker in 98 seconds to pick up his first promotional win.

Sabatini picks up his second loss in his three most recent outings.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 295 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.

Diego Lopes def. Pat Sabatini at UFC 295: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Diego Lopes’ first-round knockout win over Pat Sabatini at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag]’ first-round knockout win over [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag] at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Photos by Wendell Cruz, USA TODAY Sports; Sarah Stier, Getty Images; MMA Junkie)