Tag: UFC Fight Night 229

UFC free fight: Bobby Green puts Tony Ferguson to sleep with first submission win in 10 years

Watch Bobby Green put Tony Ferguson to sleep in his first submission win in 10 years back at UFC 291 in July.

Submission wins for [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag] don’t come around often. Yet, he was able to tap Tony Ferguson, who’s historically been one of the toughest fighters to submit in the UFC at 155 pounds.

This past July at UFC 291, Green arguably scored the biggest win of his fighting career when he submitted former interim champion Ferguson with an arm-triangle in the final seconds of their bout. The finish earned Green a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.

This marked the first time Green got a submission victory since defeating  Jacob Volkmann at UFC 156 in 2013. This was also Ferguson’s third submission defeat and only second in his 22-fight run with the promotion.

You can watch Green’s finish in the video above.

Green (30-14-1 MMA, 11-9-1 UFC) returns this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 229, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event streams on ESPN+. He takes on rising contender Grant Dawson (20-1-1 MMA, 8-0-1 UFC).

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229.

UFC free fight: Grant Dawson hands Mark Madsen his first professional loss

Watch Grant Dawson submit Mark Madsen in impressive fashion.

Most professional MMA fighters experience defeat at some point in their careers, and Mark Madsen was not an exception to that.

The Olympic silver medalist saw his perfect record come to an end when he fought [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] back in November 2022 at UFC Fight Night 214. Dawson submitted Madsen with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their lightweight clash. It was an impressive and dominant win by Dawson, who’s positioned himself as a contender in recent years.

You can watch Dawson’s dominant win in the video above.

Dawson (20-1-1 MMA, 8-0-1 UFC) returns to the octagon this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 229, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event streams on ESPN+. He takes on veteran Bobby Green (30-14-1 MMA, 11-9-1 UFC), who’s coming off a submission win over Tony Ferguson.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229.

UFC Fight Night 229: Make your predictions for Grant Dawson vs. Bobby Green

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 229 event in Las Vegas, which features Grant Dawson vs. Bobby Green at lightweight.

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 229 event in Las Vegas.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC Fight Night 229 main card staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC Fight Night 229 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

Make your picks for the fights below.

Spinning Back Clique LIVE: Bellator 300 preview, Fury-Ngannou, Angela Lee, Charles Oliveira and more

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel discusses Saturday’s huge Bellator 300 card and its four title bouts, the promotion’s future and much 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 65 weigh-ins in Las Vegas.

This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura and Dan Tom will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

  • Bellator 300 on Saturday is the biggest event in the promotion’s history. We’ll look at the unprecedented four title fights on the main card.
  • The rumors have been out for months that Bellator is on the block. Bellator 300 in San Diego goes down Saturday, and Bellator 301 is set for November in Chicago. After that, though, what might the future look like for the company?
  • Angela Lee, just 27, announced her retirement from MMA while still ONE Championship’s 115-pound champion. In December 2022, Angela’s sister Victoria died at 18. The Lee family closed its training center in Hawaii, and now Lee has said Victoria’s tragic death has left her unwilling to continue to compete.
  • Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is preparing for his boxing match against Tyson Fury. Ngannou is training, in part, with Mike Tyson. If Ngannou upset Fury, would it be a bigger shocker than when Tyson lost to Buster Douglas nearly 25 years ago?
  • Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira isn’t exactly thrilled he has to go to Abu Dhabi to face Islam Makhachev in an attempt to win back the title at UFC 294 later this month. The UFC goes to Sao Paulo in Oliveira’s home country of Brazil two weeks later. When Oliveira lost his first fight with Makhachev a year ago on the same weekend, it also was in Abu Dhabi. Oliveira said he doesn’t think it’s fair, but that’s how it works. But should he even have lobbied a complaint in the first place?
  • And much more …

Ahead of first UFC headliner, ‘Apex predator’ Grant Dawson sees perks to competing without crowd

“I’m very comfortable at the UFC Apex, so it only makes sense that my first main event is going to be at the Apex.”

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] is happy to continue fighting at the UFC Apex.

Dawson (20-1-1 MMA, 8-0-1 UFC) meets Bobby Green (30-14-1 MMA, 11-9-1 UFC) in a lightweight main event at UFC Fight Night 229 on Oct. 7 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Dawson’s past five outings have come at the UFC Apex, and his first octagon headliner will also take place at the Apex.

“Honestly right now, I’m just considering myself this Apex predator because my last, like, five have all been in the Apex,” Dawson told MMA Junkie Radio. “I’ve come away with wins at the Apex, I’m very comfortable at the Apex, so it only makes sense that my first main event is going to be at the Apex.”

He experienced the incredible French crowd when he cornered his teammate Thiago Moises earlier this month in Paris, but Dawson said fighting at the Apex means he actually gets to hear his corner. So, he likes it and sees it as an advantage.

“It really doesn’t matter to me,” Dawson said. “If we’re going off of purely just would I rather fight at the Apex or in front of a crowd, I’d rather fight at the Apex. The crowd is great, I love it, and they definitely have their place. I’ll get more followers fighting in front of a crowd.

“I’ll get more hyped up fighting in front of a crowd, but when you’re fighting guys at this level, being able to hear your coach and being able to have them coach you through things is such a cheat code. I absolutely think it’s a huge advantage for me to fight at the Apex.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229.

JJ Aldrich steps into UFC Fight Night 229 vs. Montana De La Rosa

Montana De La Rosa gets a new UFC opponent – and a former training partner – for her replacement assignment.

[autotag]Montana De La Rosa[/autotag] has a new opponent.

[autotag]JJ Aldrich[/autotag] has stepped into the UFC Fight Night 229 bout Oct. 7 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, replacing the withdrawn [autotag]Stephanie Egger[/autotag], who pulled out for undisclosed reasons.

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

Aldrich (12-6 MMA, 8-5 UFC) competed Aug. 26 in Singapore when she defeated Na Liang by TKO at UFC Fight Night 225. The win snapped a two-fight skid, though it moved her to 4-2 in her most recent six.

De La Rosa (12-8-1 MMA, 5-4-1 UFC) looks to snap a two-fight losing skid after defeats against Maycee Barber and Tatiana Suarez. She is 1-3-1 in her most recent five.

The two fighters were, at one point in time, training partners in Colorado.

With the change, the UFC Fight Night 229 lineup includes:

  • Grant Dawson vs. Bobby Green
  • Abdul-Razak Alhassan vs. Joe Pyfer
  • Drew Dober vs. Ricky Glenn
  • Bill Algeo vs. Alexander Hernandez
  • Ion Cutelaba vs. Philipe Lins
  • Joaquin Buckley vs. Alex Morono
  • Vanessa Demopolous vs. Kanako Murata
  • Qileng Aori vs. Johnny Munoz Jr.
  • Chris Gutierrez vs. Montel Jackson
  • Nate Maness vs. Mateus Mendonca
  • Mariya Agapova vs. Montana De La Rosa
  • Diana Belbita vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229.