Tag: Rafael dos Anjos

Rafael dos Anjos releases statement after UFC 308 knee injury: ‘It’s a tough game’

Former UFC champion Rafael dos Anjos had a terrible 40th birthday.

[autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag]’ 40th birthday didn’t go as he expected.

Not only did he lose to Geoff Neal on Saturday at UFC 308, he also suffered a devastating knee injury, the extent of which has not been revealed.

Sunday, dos Anjos (32-17 MMA, 21-15 UFC) released a statement on social media in which he apologized to his fans for the outcome and updated the public on his situation, though did not reveal a diagnosis.

“Thank you all fight fans for the support, sorry I let you guys down,” dos Anjos said. “Definitely it was not how I want to celebrate my 40th birthday, it was a tough loss. During my whole UFC career it’s my second time been hospitalized after a fight, it make me feel blessed, it could been worse, it’s a tough game. Time to heal up, enjoy the family. I’m not done yet, I’ll be back soon. God bless you all. I’ll keep you guys updated on my stories.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBn–x1pKDI/

Dos Anjos is admittedly in the latter stages of his competitive career. He’s bounced between lightweight and welterweight in recent years. Saturday’s loss at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi was his third loss in four appearances.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

UFC 308 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Ilia Topuria’s $42,000 leads card

Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway combined for $74,000 of the Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay for UFC 308.

ABU DHABI – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 308 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $252,000.

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 308 took place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+

The full UFC 308 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag]: $42,000
def. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Aleksandar Rakic[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Shara Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Armen Petrosyan[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Ibo Aslan[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Rafael Cerqueira[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Mateusz Rebecki[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Myktybek Orolbai[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Abus Magomedov[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Brunno Ferreira[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Chris Barnett[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Ismail Naurdiev[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Bruno Silva[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Rinat Fakhretdinov[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Carlos Leal[/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 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,896,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $29,633,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

UFC 308 results: Rafael dos Anjos injures left knee, Geoff Neal wins by Round 1 TKO

Geoff Neal looked good early before Rafael dos Anjos went down with an injury at UFC 308.

[autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag] looked good early before [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] went down with an injury at UFC 308.

Neal (16-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) hurt dos Anjos (32-17 MMA, 21-15 UFC) on the feet, before the former lightweight champion buckled his left knee, which prompted the referee to stop the fight at the 1:30 mark of Round 1. The welterweight bout was part of the UFC 308 prelims at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Neal stalked dos Anjos early, dropping him with a overhand left less than a minute into Round 1. Dos Anjos survived, but was taken down by Neal, who decided to let him back up. A few moments later, dos Anjos went down after he appeared to injure his left knee. The fight was ruled a TKO win for Neal.

https://twitter.com/UFCEurope/status/1850226027525517511

Neal picked up his first win in over two years. He was on a two-fight losing skid after back-to-back losses to Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 308 results include:

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Geoff Neal def. Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 308: Best photos from Abu Dhabi

Check out the best photos from Geoff Neal’s first-round TKO win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 308 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Geoff Neal[/autotag]’s first-round TKO win over [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] at UFC 308 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. (Photos by Craig Kidwell, special to MMA Junkie; MMA Junkie; UFC)

Rafael dos Anjos on Islam Makhachev: ‘I don’t think he can beat Leon Edwards and become a double champion’

Rafael dos Anjos doesn’t like Islam Makhachev’s chances of becoming a UFC champ-champ.

[autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] doesn’t like [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag]’s chances of becoming a UFC double champion.

Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC), who defended his lightweight title three times, has reiterated his interest in moving up to welterweight to challenge [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag].

Dos Anjos (32-16 MMA, 21-14 UFC), who has competed at both lightweight and welterweight throughout his career, thinks Makhachev would struggle with the size at a weight class above.

“He’s in a very good momentum right now, but I don’t think he can beat Leon Edwards and become a double champion,” dos Anjos told Submission Radio. “I just think like, the size difference. Leon is a much bigger guy, and we see smaller guys like (Dustin) Poirier giving Islam a lot of trouble.

“Poirier, he’s very tough, but he usually fights at 145, and he gave Islam a hard fight. Islam choked him in the fifth, I think. Poirier, you can see he’s a great fighter. I got a lot of respect for him. But if you see all his title defenses, like he got submitted, and I think he’s very weak on that point or like, his submission defense are not on point. Like, he always falls short on that aspect.”

Former lightweight champion dos Anjos plans on returning to 170 pounds after bouncing around weight classes in his past six fights. He has two particular names in mind for his next fight.

“I see Stephen Thompson, he doesn’t have a fight coming up,” dos Anjos said. “Kevin Holland doesn’t have a fight coming up. And those are good names, you know, like that make sense for me.”

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Rafael dos Anjos rips Conor McGregor with callback after UFC 303 withdrawal: ‘It’s just a bruise’

Rafael dos Anjos has seemingly been waiting for more than eight years to take a dig at Conor McGregor after a UFC injury withdrawal.

[autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] has seemingly been waiting for more than eight years to take a dig at [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] after an injury.

Dos Anjos was the victim of much vitriol when, as UFC lightweight champion, he pulled out of a scheduled title defense against then-featherweight champ McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016 due to a broken foot.

McGregor has continued to take shots at dos Anjos in the years since, and it’s clear the Brazilian hasn’t forget about it.

So when McGregor was forced to withdraw from his anticipated comeback fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas due to injury, dos Anjos took his moment to throw shade back at “The Notorious” in a deep cut callback (via X):

It’s just a bruise, take some ibuprofen.

McGregor has issued a statement on his first career UFC withdrawal, and Chandler has shared his thoughts, as well. It appears both men plan to have the fight rescheduled for a later date, but nothing has been announced by UFC at this time.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.

Rafael dos Anjos: Islam Makhachev can’t be No. 1 pound-for-pound with two title defenses over a featherweight

Rafael dos Anjos doesn’t think Islam Makhachev’s resume warrants the No. 1 spot in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.

[autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag]’s resume warrants the No. 1 spot in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.

UFC lightweight champion Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) tied the division’s record of three title defenses when he submitted Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 earlier this month. His other two title defenses came over former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

UFC CEO Dana White argued that former UFC light heavyweight champion and current heavyweight champ Jon Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) should be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, and dos Anjos agrees. Jones returned from an over three-year long layoff at UFC 285 to submit Ciryl Gane and claim the vacant heavyweight title.

“I don’t know who made those rankings, but a guy like Jon Jones, he’s a double-division champion,” dos Anjos told Sherdog. “He’s undefeated. I agree with Dana White 100 percent: If Jon Jones is around, he’s going to be the pound-for-pound, for sure – No. 1.

“He’s the best guy in the world in his division, and pound-for-pound as well. I don’t believe Islam Makhachev, with two title defenses against a featherweight and one title defense against a real lightweight, can be pound-for-pound No. 1.”

Former UFC lightweight champion dos Anjos (32-16 MMA, 21-14 UFC), who lost to Makhachev’s mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2014, will ride out the rest of his career at welterweight – where he challenged for the interim title before in 2018.

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Rafael dos Anjos requests to be removed from UFC lightweight rankings, eyes welterweight return in July

Former UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos wants to ride out the rest of his career at welterweight.

Former UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] wants to ride out the rest of his career at welterweight.

Dos Anjos (32-16 MMA, 21-14 UFC) has bounced between 155 and 170 pounds in the past seven years. His most recent appearance came at UFC 299 in March when he lost a unanimous decision to Mateusz Gamrot.

But now dos Anjos, who’s ranked No. 14 in the UFC’s lightweight rankings, intends on moving back up to welterweight.

“Get me out of LW rankings. For you LW out there calling me out I don’t compete at LW now on. I have nothing to prove to nobody, I walk around 195 at 39 years old. There’s lots of fights that make sense to me at 170. I want to fight in July @ufc get me back in that octagon.”

Dos Anjos’ first run at welterweight included three straight wins over Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny, and Robbie Lawler, which resulted in an interim title fight vs. Colby Covington in June 2018. He lost a competitive unanimous decision and is 5-5 at 170 pounds. His most recent win came in a second-round submission of Bryan Barberena in December 2022.

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UFC 299 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Sean O’Malley’s $42,000 tops card

Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 299 took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $359,000.

MIAMI – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 299 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $359,000.

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 299 took place at Kaseya Center. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

The full UFC 299 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag]: $42,000
def. [autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag]: $32,000

[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Michael Page[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kevin Holland[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Jack Della Maddalena[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag]: $21,000;

[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Katlyn Cerminara[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Kyler Phillips[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag]: $21,000

[autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Philipe Lins[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Michel Pereira[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Michal Oleksiejczuk[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Robelis Despaigne[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Josh Parisian[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Asu Almabaev[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]CJ Vergara[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Joanne Wood[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Maryna Moroz[/autotag]: $11,000

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 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $1,362,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,069,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.

Mateusz Gamrot def. Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 299: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Mateusz Gamrot’s win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 299.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Rafael dos Anjos[/autotag] at UFC 299 at Kaseya Center in Miami. (Fight and venue photos by Sam Navarro, USA Today Sports)