Stephanie Luciano happy to prove Dana White right in debut at UFC on ESPN 61

Stephanie Luciano avenged a draw Talita Alencar with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminarys at UFC on ESPN 61

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Stephanie Luciano[/autotag] beat Talita Alencar with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 61 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Luciano, who picked up a win in her UFC debut – and avenged a draw with Alencar on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Stephanie Luciano def. Talita Alencar

Result: Stephanie Luciano def. Talita Alencar via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Updated records: Luciano (6-1-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Alencar (5-1-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Key stats: Luciano doubled up on Alencar in the striking department and stuffed nine of her 10 takedown attempts.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 10: (L-R) Stephanie Luciano of Brazil punches Talita Alencar of Brazil in a strawweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on August 10, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Powers/Zuffa LLC)

Luciano on the fight’s key moment

“I think it was unavoidable (to have a rematch with Alencar) – especially after what happened on the Contender Series. It was such a tough fight, and it ended up being a draw. She comes in with such strong jiu-jitsu, and I was able to display a lot of striking. I’m surprised (the rematch) was my debut in the UFC. I thought I had an impeccable performance. I thought it was great.”

Luciano on winning her UFC debut

“I’m very happy. This is the place where I want to be. To be in this organization and have such a great win, so technical, and it worked so well – it feels like a dream come true. It’s so incredible to actually live your dreams.”

Luciano on what she wants next

“I had an expectation to fight three times this year, but I had a fight at the start of the year that was canceled. I do want to fight, and hopefully I can fight in December or even November.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.

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UFC on ESPN 61 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Event yields second-lowest total of 2024

UFC on ESPN 61 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 on ESPN 61 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $128,000.

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 on ESPN 61 took place at the UFC Apex. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC on ESPN 61 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]: $16,000

[autotag]Chepe Mariscal[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Danny Barlow[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Nikolay Veretennikov[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Chris Gutierrez[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Quang Le[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Yana Santos[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Chelsea Chandler[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Toshiomi Kazama[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Charalampos Grigoriou[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Karol Rosa[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Jhonata Diniz[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Karl Williams[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jarno Errens[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Stephanie Luciano[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Talita Alencar[/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 $4,610; 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 20-61 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $4,914,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $27,651,500

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.

UFC on ESPN 61 video: Hear from each winner, guest fighters backstage

Check out what the UFC on ESPN 61 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – UFC on ESPN 61 took place Saturday with 10 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 on ESPN 61 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 12-18)

Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights 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, PFL, and Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Feb. 12-18.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Dec. 25-Dec. 31)

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. 25-31.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC fights announced in the past week (Dec. 18-24)

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. 18-24.

Fresh Ink: Meet the 25 fighters the UFC signed in September 2023

Find out who joined the UFC in September and learn more about them here.

The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.

Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, “Dana White’s Contender Series” signees, or rare straight-up additions. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.

“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.

Check out the September 2023 list below.

Stephanie Luciano surprised by UFC contract after DWCS draw: ‘I didn’t know what was going to happen’

Stephanie Luciano reacts to getting a UFC contract after her draw at DWCS 63.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Stephanie Luciano[/autotag] wasn’t sure where her future was headed after her showing at Dana White Contender Series 63.

The Brazilian strawweight didn’t beat her opponent Talita Alencar, but she also didn’t lose to her. The two fought to a draw in one of the more exciting fights of the night. This made Luciano (5-1-1) feel unsure of whether she was going to get a contract with the UFC. Fortunately for her, she was offered a contract, while White passed on Alencar (4-0-1).

“It’s surprising, right,” Luciano said through an interpreter at the DWCS 63 post-fight press conference. “I didn’t know what was going to happen there. I mean, Talita Alencar is a great athlete, and she came to impose her game, and then it was my turn to show her what I’m about, and I think that’s what made a difference.

“You don’t come out with a win, but you conquer the hearts of people, and that’s why I think I was able to get what I got.”

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Luciano lost the first two rounds of the fight after getting taken down and controlled by the jiu-jitsu standout. However, in the third, Luciano put on a beating on a tired Alencar, enough to make it a 10-8 round.

“It was part of the strategy, actually,” Luciano said. “Listening closely to my corner, we knew that she could get tired of this, and they said this plenty of times. It’s not jiu-jitsu, it’s MMA. When I saw my opportunity, I was able to put my game, and you could see she was getting tired. I went for it. I really feel I could’ve knocked her out, but it didn’t happen. So now, that’s an opportunity to get better, so let’s go.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Dana White’s Contender Series 63.

Dana White’s Contender Series 63: Grading the winners

MMA Junkie fight analyst Dan Tom takes a closer look at the performances of the five winners from Dana White’s Contender Series 63.

Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series (2023) took place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and we’re grading the winners from the five-fight card, which streamed on ESPN+ from the UFC Apex.

With a simple but digestible format that’s had the MMA fanbase responding, this series has shown to have legs in multiple ways while serving as a crockpot for contenders the UFC matchmakers can use to fill their roster for future events. With that trend in mind, I once again will be taking a look at the winning fighters, regardless of whether or not they won a UFC contract, and grading their performances in regard to their probability of returning to a UFC stage.