Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here are the top four honorable mentions and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Knockout of the Year” award for 2023.
With another action-packed year of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie takes a look at the best knockouts from January to December. Here are the top five and winner of MMA Junkie’s “Knockout of the Year” award for 2023.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice for “Knockout of the Year.”
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Justin Gaethje vows he’s a different fighter since losing to Charles Oliveira at UFC 274.
[autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] vows he’s a different fighter since losing to [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] at UFC 274.
Since a submission loss to Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 29-9 UFC) in their lightweight title fight in May 2022, Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) has rebounded with two straight wins – a decision over Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286, and a knockout of Dustin Poirier to claim the “BMF” title less than two weeks ago at UFC 291 to cement himself as No. 1 contender.
Gaethje has been a bonus machine since joining the UFC roster, thrilling fans with numerous all-out wars. While he’s still winning bonuses, “The Highlight” recently displayed a much more composed version of himself.
As he awaits the winner of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev vs. Oliveira at UFC 294 on Oct. 21, Gaethje reflected on his quick loss to Oliveira, which was action packed while it lasted.
“I made a huge mistake and I really got caught up in the moment when I fought Charles Oliveira,” Gaethje told ESPN. “Like if you look at the difference between my walkout in this fight and the Charles Oliveira fight, like, I am a different person. I do not recognize the person that fought Oliveira. It’s still a battle that I’m going to face every single time I step in there, to not get caught up in the what are we doing, what’s it for.
“Outside of just being present and trusting in my preparation and trusting in my intuition and being calm in that sense or in that arena, and I think again it was just a mistake I made. It was kind of the last learning lesson that I needed because I still wasn’t convinced that whether I’m aggressive or not aggressive, I didn’t think that was a huge factor. I thought I would still perform the same way but it’s certainly was a detriment to my performance that night.”
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Gaethje and Poirier engaged in a barnburner in their first fight in 2018. Many expected their rematch at UFC 291 to go down in similar fashion, but Gaethje had other plans that he thinks threw Poirier off.
“I’m skipping towards the cage, I’m singing a song that I don’t even understand the words to, kind of like Dustin came out, just hyped up,” Gaethje said. “Dustin came out for a war and I gave him a ballet, and it was it was the best thing I could have done. I mean he was expecting a war and I gave him the opposite. I guarantee that frustrated him and he was probably very surprised, and it was perfect. It worked out perfect on my end.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
Derrick Lewis will remain with the UFC.
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] will remain with the UFC.
The fan-favorite heavyweight revealed he fought out his contract after a 33-second TKO of Marcos Rogerio de Lima on the main card of UFC 291 on July 29. Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) hoped to re-sign with the UFC, and it didn’t take long for him to do so.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Junkie that Lewis has signed a new eight-fight deal, a term that were first reported by The Mac Life.
Dana White was asked about Lewis’ status during a Power Slap 4 post-fight news conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, and heaped praise on “The Black Beast.” He turned to UFC executive Hunter Campbell, who confirmed that Lewis has indeed inked a new deal with the promotion.
“Listen, I love Derrick,” White said. “Personally and professionally, (I) love the guy. So yes.”
The former title challenger and all-time record holder for most UFC knockout wins snapped a three-fight losing skid with the finish of de Lima, which led to another memorable post-fight celebration.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
Dana White responds to controversy surrounding compensation (or lack there of) for Stephen Thompson making weight ahead of UFC 291.
LAS VEGAS – UFC president [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] says [autotag]Stephen Thompson[/autotag] will receive some compensation for his UFC 291 weigh-in, though it may not be his show money.
Thompson made weight in Salt Lake City ahead of his scheduled July 29 bout, but opponent Michel Pereira missed the contracted weight limit by three pounds. Rather than accept a percentage of Pereira’s purse in lieu of the weight discrepancy, Thompson elected not to compete. Thompson later explained the decision was made after considering the health and competitive risks.
“How that works is that guys don’t just get paid to not fight,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters Tuesday following DWCS 57 at the UFC Apex. “That’s not how that works. Guys have been paid. We’ve taken care of guys. Listen, if you come in, and you’re making short money, we take care of you. If you come in and you don’t fight – first of all, you decided not to fight.
“The guy was three pounds overweight or whatever it was. You get a piece of his purse, if you take the fight. But if you decide you don’t want to take the fight, we also offered him another fight. There’s a much bigger story behind the scenes. No, you don’t just show up and say, ‘No, I’m not going to fight. I want a quarter of a million dollars.’ That’s not the way it works. It hasn’t worked that way for anybody.”
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MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn reported as of the start of the UFC 291 event, Thompson had not been paid his show money despite weighing in, a fact Thompson confirmed in an interview a few days later with reporter Ariel Helwani. Thompson remained positive the UFC was “going to do right” and said the two parties were still in communication.
Tuesday, White confirmed discussions have been ongoing and said the UFC welterweight contender Thompson will receive some form of compensation, though it may just be to break even after training camp. White also said the promotion offered a quick rebooking to Thompson.
“So what we do is we try to get you another fight and turn you around quickly,” White said. ‘If you don’t turn around quickly, we try to figure out what it costs for your camp. We try to reimburse you. There’s a lot of different ways that this works out. You don’t just go, ‘Yeah, this guy is three pounds over. I’m not going to fight, and no, I won’t take another fight two weeks later, and pay me my show money.’ That’s not how this works.
“You don’t fight, you don’t get paid, necessarily, in the contract. But we always make sure that we take care of everybody. We’re working it out with ‘Wonderboy’ right now. It’s all being worked out behind the scenes and this should all be worked out by Saturday.”
Utah gave UFC 291 fighters a choice: to disclose their pay to the public or not. Here’s how much those who disclosed were paid.
The sanctioning body for combat sports in Utah has released UFC 291 disclosed payouts – but for only four of the athletes.
[autotag]Kevin Holland[/autotag] stood atop a list of disclosed paydays that included also [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag], [autotag]Gabriel Bonfim[/autotag], and [autotag]CJ Vergara[/autotag], as the four fighters who declined to opt into a pre-fight non-disclosure agreement.
Athletes who competed on the July 29 card in Salt Lake City were given the option by the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission (PSUAC) to make their purse amounts publicly accessible, as revealed by manager Alex Davis on July 28, following official weigh-ins.
Previously, fighter purse information had been released as public record. Though PSUAC executive director Scott Bowler initially declined to provide the information to MMA Junkie after UFC 278 in August 2022, it was eventually provided.
After a recent request for UFC 291 fighters’ purses, Bowler, who also serves as vice president of the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC), explained the change in a written response letter to MMA Junkie and called the information “trade secrets.”
“The athletes… have expressed valid concerns regarding the public disclosure of the compensation amount in bout agreements because public disclosure of their purse amounts will negatively impact their individual ability to negotiate compensation or purse amounts for future events,” Bowler wrote. ”
You can read Bowler’s full response here.
Scroll below to see the salaries for the four athletes who declined to sign the waiver and how much they pocketed for their wins.
Miranda Maverick actually did NOT feel the need for speed with a submission win that would have made Tom Cruise proud.
[autotag]Miranda Maverick[/autotag] actually did not feel the need … the need for speed … when she got back in the win column at UFC 291.
Maverick (12-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) submitted Priscila Cachoeira (12-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) with an armbar midway through the third round to open the prelims at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The finish didn’t get Maverick a post-fight bonus, but it did get her back on track after an upset loss to Jasmine Jasudavicius in June.
Maverick said she was worried about potentially dirty tactics from Cachoeira, and seemed to experience it when Cachoeira’s arm managed to make its way under Maverick’s top, leaving her momentarily exposed.
Maverick – whose last name happens to be the name of one of the greatest movie characters in the history of the world, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 classic “Top Gun” and its 2022 sequel – thought it was intentional. And given that, if she took her time and wanted to punish the Brazilian a little, perhaps we’d forgive her.
“I had softened her up plenty, thrown a lot of elbows, thrown a lot of punches, and she kept just sticking those hands up there, prime for the taking for an armbar,” Maverick said backstage at her UFC 291 post-fight news conference. “I just wanted to wait until I had her in enough pain that she wouldn’t fight it off as much as she would have the first or second round. … I knew once I had that armbar, she wasn’t getting out without a broken arm, and I think she pretty much tapped right at the beginning. Then she held on again, then she tapped again, and I just waited for the ref to grab ahold of me before I let go of it.”
Maverick walked out to the Harold Faltermeyer main titles theme for “Top Gun” this past Saturday, and though it seems like an obvious choice, she hasn’t always done it.
For her promotional debut at UFC 254 and her follow-up at UFC 260, she came out to “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. For her third bout in the UFC, she made the switch to “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns. And she’s kept things fluid by walking to the same “Top Gun” theme at UFC 289 in June. But she tempted any bad karma from the song by walking to it again and got a much more desirable result.
Coincidentally, Maverick fought on the same card as the UFC’s other “Maverick” – Michael Chiesa, who has it as his nickname. And a cool nickname it is, appropriate for a sport like MMA. But Maverick thinks she has the edge.
“My last name’s Maverick. I think it’s one of the best names in the sport,” she said. “Michael Chiesa is fighting tonight and he has the nickname, but he doesn’t have the real name. I go in there repping that (name) every time. ‘Top Gun’ is kind of the perfect entrance with it. I love the movie, I love the song, I love America – so it all goes together.”
Maverick said she’s given some thought to a no-brainer nickname like “Top Gun,” but certainly won’t anoint herself with the new moniker since that would break one of MMA’s longstanding unwritten rules.
“There’s been thought,” Maverick said, “(but) I have the thought of trademarks and all that can come into play in question. I don’t want to get in trouble with that aspect. Also, I believe in the whole somebody else gives you your nickname (concept), and even though ‘Top Gun’ is a pretty cool nickname, I think Maverick alone’s good enough.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
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This week’s “Spinning Back Clique” discusses and debates the big winners and fallout from Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz, UFC Nashville and more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts, with a new special start time of 11 a.m. ET, which will lead straight into our live-streamed coverage of the Dana White’s Contender Series weigh-ins in Las Vegas.
This week’s panel of Farah Hannoun, 2022 MMA Journalist of the Year nominee Mike Bohn and 2023 MMA Journalist of the Year nominee Nolan King will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
Henry Cejudo advises Justin Gaethje to choose Conor McGregor over a UFC title fight for his next move.
[autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] advises [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] to go after [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] over a title fight next.
After Gaethje captured the “BMF” title with a knockout of Dustin Poirier in this past Saturday’s UFC 291 headliner, McGregor taunted “The Highlight” and expressed interest in fighting him. McGregor is currently linked to a bout with Michael Chandler after filming “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” but appears willing to turn his attention elsewhere.
Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) was lukewarm with the idea, but Cejudo has since publicly urged him to take the McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) fight if the opportunity is there.
“Justin Gaethje, you’ve got millions and millions of dollars on the line if you fight Conor McGregor,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “The belt’s going to be there, whether it’s Islam that wins or Charles Oliveira that wins. The belt will always be there and actually waiting for you. I think the best situation you can be at now is, if I was in your position, I’m thinking about the bag.
“The reason why I’m thinking about the bag is because stylistically it’s a great match up for you. You got your leg kicks. Conor McGregor won’t be able to handle some of your movements, some of your really rugged, violent style of chopping off and really taking the legs out, on top of you going high-low with your combinations.”
Cejudo sees McGregor as easy money for Gaethje, who’s new and more refined style led to back-to-back wins over Rafael Fiziev and Poirier.
“That being said, Justin, if I had to choose something, whether I want a UFC (belt) around my waist or about $10 million, guess what? I’m going for the $10 million,” Cejudo continued. “I think it’s a great storyline. I know sometimes you talk about you don’t want to fight somebody who’s on steroids.
“But whether he’s on steroids or not, it really doesn’t matter because either way, you’ll beat him. The man hasn’t fought in so long. He’s not going to be the same guy of him pumping up to 190 pounds, just trying to look big for the cameras. It’s going to work in your favor. At 155 pounds, I can see you stopping Conor McGregor within the first two minutes.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
Chael Sonnen thinks Alex Pereira shouldn’t have gotten his hand raised vs. Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291.
[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] shouldn’t have gotten his hand raised vs. [autotag]Jan Blachowicz[/autotag] at UFC 291.
Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) edged out Blachowicz (29-10-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) by split decision in Saturday’s co-main event at Delta Center at Salt Lake City, making good in his light heavyweight debut.
Blachowicz thought he was robbed. While Sonnen wouldn’t go as far as calling it a robbery, he thinks the judges got it wrong. Only judge Junichiro Kamijo agreed with Sonnen’s scorecard.
“There’s no reasonable world where Alex Pereira won that fight and that’s not Chael’s opinion. That’s math,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “He lost Rounds 1 and 3.”
Sonnen thinks Blachowicz’s body language harmed him, when he looked visibly exhausted potentially due to the altitude from Round 2 onwards.
“It was wrong,” Sonnen continued. “It wasn’t a robbery. I have seen worse. It was wrong. There is nothing by the numbers that could get you to the conclusion that Alex won. You can look at takedowns, you could look at attempts, you could look at strikes, you could look at kicks, you could look at defense and see who slipped more punches.
“There was nothing by the numbers that could get you to a belief that Alex won. The judges factored in a criteria, and they’re known to do this. It’s just not within the rules, of fatigue. Jan Blachowicz was exhausted and Alex was not. Jan Blachowicz could not move and Alex could.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
UFC star Sean O’Malley would like to see Tony Ferguson get one more opportunity after UFC 291 and brings up strength of schedule.
[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] wants to see [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag] get another opportunity after UFC 291.
Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) lost his sixth fight in a row when he was submitted by Bobby Green on Saturday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Despite his rough patch, Ferguson didn’t indicate retirement and plans on meeting with the UFC brass to assess what’s next.
Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion, once rode the longest winning streak in the division’s history, but looks far from his prime as of late.
“Tony Ferguson (is) on a six-fight losing streak,” O’Malley said on the “Timbo Sugar Show” podcast. “‘Entering his prime’ though so that’s f*cking encouraging if you’re a Tony Ferguson fan. Bobby Green looked slick on the feet, throwing his one-twos, his two-ones, from his hip, fast as f*ck. Tony was eating them until he was sleeping on them.”
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Ferguson’s setbacks have come against elite-level competition. Although Green was considered a step down in competition, O’Malley says Ferguson’s strength of schedule has been challenging.
“I say give him one more,” O’Malley said. “I don’t (want to count him out)… Listen to who he lost to: (Justin) Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green. He’s not losing to f*cking turds.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
