UFC parts ways with eight fighters, including two after decade-long tenures

Eight fighters are no longer on the UFC roster including two fighters who have been with the promotion for approximately a decade each.

Eight fighters are no longer on the UFC roster, including two athletes who were with the promotion approximately a decade each.

Whether it was the impending wave of fighters who will be signed to compete on “Dana White’s Contender Series,” Season 7 or simply performance or contract-based decisions, the promotion parted ways with these fighters in recent weeks.

Algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch first published the transactions when the promotion removed the fighters from official rankings eligibility.

Unless denoted, it is unclear whether each athlete was released or fought out their contract.

UFC Fight Night 221 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Program total passes $16 million

UFC Fight Night 221 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 221 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $194,000.

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 221 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 221 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Alexander Volkov[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Alexandr Romanov[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Nikita Krylov[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Ryan Spann[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Said Nurmagomedov[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Jonathan Martinez[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Guido Cannetti[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Vitor Petrino[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Anton Turkalj[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Karl Williams[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Lukasz Brzeski[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Raphael Assuncao[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Josh Fremd[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Sedriques Dumas[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Victor Henry[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tony Gravely[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Ariane Lipski[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]JJ Aldrich [/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Bruno Silva[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Tyson Nam[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Carlston Harris[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Jared Gooden[/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 2217 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2211 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: $1,634,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $16,153,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 221.

Fight Tracks: The walkout songs of UFC Fight Night 221 with Tupac, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Elvis

Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 221 event.

While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a UFC win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.

See what the fighters from UFC Fight Night 221 went with as their backing tracks in Las Vegas.

Victor Henry def. Tony Gravely at UFC Fight Night 221: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Victor Henry’s split decision win over Tony Gravely at UFC Fight Night 221.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Victor Henry[/autotag]’s split decision win over [autotag]Tony Gravely[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 221 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. (Photos by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports)

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Jan. 23-29)

All the UFC and Bellator 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 or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Jan. 23-29.

UFC Fight Night 210 post-event facts: Gillian Robertson takes submission record to new heights

Gillian Robertson’s name is all over the record books after another submission win at UFC Fight Night 210.

The UFC’s final event of September took place Saturday with UFC Fight Night 210, which went down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and featured 13 fights on the docket.

The last of those fights was an important showdown in the bantamweight division. [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] (15-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) delivered a fourth-round TKO of [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] (19-7-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC) after a bad cut forced a doctor’s stoppage, putting Sandhagen back on the winning track after consecutive losses.

For more ont he numbers behind the main event, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 210.

UFC Fight Night 210 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Andre Fili leads way with $16,000

UFC Fight Night 210 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 210 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $155,500.

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 210 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.

The full UFC Fight Night 210 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

* * * *

[autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag]: $11,000

[autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Chidi Njokuani[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Bill Algeo[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Alen Amedovski[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Rodrigo Nascimento[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Tanner Boser[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Anthony Hernandez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Marc-Andre Barriault[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Pat Sabatini[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Louis Cosce[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Loma Lookboonmee[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Denise Gomes[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Trey Ogden[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Daniel Zellhuber[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Gillian Robertson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Mariya Agapova[/autotag]: $4,500

[autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Tony Gravely[/autotag]: $6,000

[autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Cameron VanCamp[/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 2107 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2101 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 2022 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $6,326,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $12,494,000

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 210.

UFC books Javid Basharat vs. Tony Gravely for Sept. 17 event

Surging bantamweights Javid Basharat and Tony Gravely will face off in September.

Surging bantamweights will face off in September.

[autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets [autotag]Tony Gravely[/autotag] (23-7 MMA, 4-2 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on Sept. 17, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Unbeaten in his pro MMA career, Basharat earned a UFC contract through Dana White’s Contender Series last October by submitting Oron Kahlon. He continued that momentum by picking up a unanimous decision win over Trevin Jones at UFC Fight Night 203 in March.

Meanwhile, Gravely has won four of his past five. The Contender Series graduate is coming off back-to-back wins over Saimon Oliveira and most recently a first-round knockout of Johnny Munoz at UFC Fight Night 207 in June.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for Sept. 17 includes:

  • Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong
  • Giga Chikadze vs. Sodiq Yusuff
  • Andre Fili vs. Lando Vannata
  • Sijara Eubanks vs. Maryna Moroz
  • Chidi Njokuani vs. Gregory Rodrigues
  • Tanner Boser vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
  • Trey Ogden vs. Daniel Zellhuber
  • Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp
  • Louis Cosce vs. Trevin Giles
  • Damon Jackson vs. Pat Sabatini
  • Diana Belbita vs. Loma Lookboonmee
  • Melissa Gatto vs. Gillian Robertson
  • Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Anthony Hernandez
  • Alen Amedovski vs. Joe Pyfer
  • Javid Basharat vs. Tony Gravely

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UFC Fight Night 207 video: Hear from each winner backstage

Check out what all the UFC Fight Night 207 winners had to say after their performances at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 207 took place Saturday with 14 bouts on the slate, and we’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex.

In the main event, former heavyweights clash as Jairzinho Rozenstruik takes on Alexander Volkov.

You can hear from every UFC Fight Night 207 winner by checking out their post-fight scrums below.

UFC Fight Night 207 video: Tony Gravely sleeps Johnny Munoz with nasty uppercut in first round

Tony Gravely put away Johnny Munoz with a nasty uppercut at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 207.

[autotag]Tony Gravely[/autotag] had a quick night at the office.

The UFC bantamweight just needed a little over a minute to put away his opponent [autotag]Johnny Munoz[/autotag] in the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 207 in Las Vegas. Gravely (23-7 MMA, 4-2 UFC) officially defeated Munoz (11-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) by first-round TKO at the 1:08 mark.

Gravely connected with a well-timed uppercut, as Munoz looked to change levels and go for a takedown. The shot immediately sent Munoz to the canvas where Gravely only needed a couple of follow-up shots to get the referee to stop the bout just over a minute into the fight.

Below you can watch the quick finish.

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Gravely now finds himself on a two-fight winning streak, as he was coming off a decision win over Saimon Oliveira at UFC 270 back in January. Prior to that, he suffered a TKO loss to Nate Maness in September of last year.

Up-to-the-minute results of UFC Fight Night 207 include:

  • Tony Gravely def. Johnny Munoz Jr. via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:08
  • Jeff Molina def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
  • Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Andreas Michailidis via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
  • Erin Blanchfield def. JJ Aldrich via submission (standing guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:38