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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In a year filled with memorable MMA events for the UFC, Bellator, PFL, ONE Championship and more, one stood out from all the rest.
A disclaimer: We’re sorry, UFC Austin. We’re sorry, Bellator 300 and Bellator 301. We’re sorry UFC 285. You all were good. Great, really.
But you fell just short of the top.
UFC 295 at the mecca of combat sports, Madison Square Garden in New York, is MMA Junkie’s 2023 Event of the Year.
The UFC’s 30th anniversary event was supposed to feature one of its biggest all-time stars, Jon Jones, in a heavyweight title defense against former champion Stipe Miocic, regarded by many as the best heavyweight in MMA history because he had three consecutive UFC title defenses – a low number for a record, but the record nonetheless.
But Jones injured his shoulder training, and rather than keep Miocic on the card, they saved the two of them for (hopefully) this year, and put an interim title on the line between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich.
The previous co-feature vacant light heavyweight title fight between former middleweight champ Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka was elevated to the headliner on the pay-per-view main card, which kept the show with a pair of title fights at the top of the bill.
When it comes to star power at the end of the night, UFC 295 may not have been the promotion’s sexiest offering ever at the Garden. It has to compete with previous MSG headliners with names like McGregor and St-Pierre and Cormier and Diaz and Adesanya and Covington and Masvidal, so there’s no shame in that.
But what UFC 295 lacked in mega-names, it made up for when it mattered. All five fights on the main card were finishes for the 19,000-plus in the building, and eight of the 13 bouts overall were stoppages. And let’s face it: Finishes go a long way.
That’s why it was hard to pass up UFC on ESPN 52, which took place less than a month later in Austin, Texas. That show didn’t have the promotional punch a pay-per-view provides – it merely was a Fight Night card streamed on ESPN+. Hell, UFC Austin wasn’t even officially announced by the company until several weeks before the show.
But from a highlights standpoint, UFC on ESPN 52 came through with a ridiculous nine submissions in 12 fights. Add in a Fight of the Night bonus and $50,000 for every stoppage on the card, and the UFC gave out $500,000 in extra checks in just that one night.
But UFC 295 inches above UFC Austin for its main card finishes under a much brighter spotlight in Midtown Manhattan, and with the pressure to deliver absent the previously planned heavyweight headliner. That one of those finishes was Pereira in the co-feature to win a title in a second division just seven bouts into his UFC tenure is the icing on the proverbial cake.
We’d be remiss to not shout out Bellator 300 and Bellator 301 again, as well as UFC 285 and UFC 290. Bellator 300 was a historic event number for the promotion and came at a time of uncertainty in the promotion. Four title fights were scheduled, though the show wound up with just three. Still, the ambition behind setting out to do four to begin with is admirable. Bellator 301 in November will go down as the promotion’s final show before its sale to the PFL, and it doesn’t get much more historic than the last of anything.
At UFC 285 in March, Jones won the heavyweight title with a quick submission of Ciryl Gane to become a two-division titleholder. That show in Las Vegas had four submissions on the main card.
Nazim Sadykhov and Viacheslav Borshchev turned in an instant classic Nov. 11 in New York, but don’t expect them to run it back any time soon.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Nazim Sadykhov[/autotag] and [autotag]Viacheslav Borshchev[/autotag] turned in an instant classic Nov. 11 at UFC 295 in New York, but don’t expect them to run it back any time soon.
The two fighters engaged in a back-and-forth brawl that ended in a draw – and a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus. However, both fighters seem to want fresh matchups, at least in the immediate.
“I don’t have an exclusive thing where I have to get this one back,” Sadykhov recently told MMA Junkie on the red carpet before the 15th Annual World MMA Awards at Sahara Theater. “He’s that good that he’s probably going to be in the top 10. And inshallah, I’m going to be in the top 10 as well. Maybe down the road (we’ll fight again), but right now I just want to keep fighting, keep going, and see where my road takes me.
“I’m not dying for a rematch. … Not right now. But both of those fights, including this one right here with ‘Slava Claus’, it’s possible in the future. But right now, we just keep moving forward and take other fights.”
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Sadykhov isn’t salty about the draw. Why? Because he went back and watched, and thought the judges got it right. There’s room for improvement for sure. Sadykhov is optimistic necessary changes will be made ahead of his next fight.
“I got a couple of bumps and bruises from the fight, but I’m just so happy the MMA world reacted the way that they did. I’m happy that the fans enjoyed the fight and that’s it. That’s what I’m here for: the big fights, the good fights, the exciting fights, the Fight of the Month, the Fight of the Year, the Fight of the Night. That’s what Nazim Sadykhov is here for.
“… We’re already working on (my next fight). As long as I’m healthy, I’m going to be fighting. As long as I’m fighting, there’s going to be excitement. I’m looking for a March-April return. Perhaps UFC 300. Perhaps a Fight Night or something in March. But we’re targeting March and April right now.”
Viacheslav Borshchev won’t complain about the result of his UFC 295 Fight of the Night with Nazim Sadykhov after he was nearly finished.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Viacheslav Borshchev[/autotag] won’t complain about the result of his UFC 295 Fight of the Night with Nazim Sadykhov.
Borshchev (7-3-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) and Sadykhov (9-1-1 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) put on a lightweight triller at Madison Square Garden in New York that ended in a majority draw. Both men took some hard knocks in the fight, and in the end, the judges could not decide a winner.
The majority of the damage taken was on Borshchev’s side. He was badly hurt and nearly stopped with strikes in the second round, but managed to survive and come back and claim the final frame to conclude MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month for November.
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“I felt great after the fight was over,” Borshchev told MMA Junkie. “I felt like I was winning and would’ve had the scores, but I was almost killed in the second round. I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to being finished. That’s why I was happy with the draw.”
Despite the lack of a winner in the fight, Borshchev admits he’s not keen to find resolution with Sadykhov. He would be open to a rematch down the line, but thinks plenty of other opponents at 155 pounds make sense, too.
“There’s no reason for this (rematch). We’re here because we want to make money. There’s no way I’m going to fight this monster again. You’d have to pay really well to fight this guy. It has to be something like a title fight or a main event. There’s no reason (for a rematch). We both have to get higher.”
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for November.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from November 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from November 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for November.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from November 2023.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from November 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for November.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
With five finishes on the pay-per-view main card, UFC 295 certainly made its case for Event of the Year.
With five finishes on the pay-per-view main card, UFC 295 certainly made its case for Event of the Year.
In the main event, former middleweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] became a two-division champion by knocking out Jiri Prochazka to claim the light heavyweight title. And in the co-main event, [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] won the interim heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovic.
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag], [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag] and [autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag] also scored impressive finishes on the Nov. 11 main card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Check out all the highlights in super-slow motion in the UFC 295 “Fight Motion” video highlights above.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.
Curtis Blaydes thinks Sergei Pavlovich gave Tom Aspinall too much space to work at UFC 295.
[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Sergei Pavlovich[/autotag] gave [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] too much space to work.
Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) knocked out Pavlovich (18-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in 69 seconds to claim the interim heavyweight title at UFC 295.
Aspinall’s lone octagon loss came to Blaydes by TKO in July 2022, when his knee blew out just 15 seconds into the fight. Having fought both Aspinall and Pavlovich before, Blaydes (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) picked Aspinall to win, but was surprised at the quick blitz through knockout artist Pavlovich.
“Going in, I did have Aspinall winning, but I didn’t think it would happen in the fashion that it did happen,” Blaydes told Middle Easy. “I thought he would out-technique him and just be a smarter fighter. I expected Sergei to be a lot more aggressive. That was one of the biggest things. He allowed Aspinall to get bouncing, get moving, and gave him space.
“That’s one of the differences between fighting at the Apex and using a standard octagon – a lot more space, a lot harder to be aggressive when there are angles you can take. I think that was the beginning of the end when he allowed Aspinall the freedom of movement.”
Many are touting Aspinall to potentially be the one to beat UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and Blaydes doesn’t rule out that possibility. He thinks anyone can win a fight at heavyweight.
“It’s heavyweight,” Blaydes said. “Anybody can beat anybody. Sergei can beat Jon. I can beat Jon. It’s whoever gets hit in the face first. That’s really all it is. Regardless of the skill, and technique, and experience, and all that, heavyweight there is one equalizer; power. Power beats skill. Power beats speed. Power at heavyweight is everything and every heavyweight has power. It’s a prerequisite.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 295.
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.
