Tag: UFC Fight Night 231

UFC Sao Paulo: Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel, Victor Hugo vs. Daniel Marcos scrapped after weight misses

The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo for the first time in nearly four years will go on with a couple fewer Brazilians than planned.

The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo for the first time in nearly four years will go on with a couple fewer Brazilians than planned.

Two UFC Fight Night 231 bouts were canceled Friday following the event’s official weigh-ins, where four fighters missed their marks on their first attempts. Ultimately, three missed weight – which led to a pair of cancellations, the UFC announced.

[autotag]Ismael Bonfim[/autotag] (19-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was set to open the main card against [autotag]Vinc Pichel[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at lightweight. Bonfim came in at 159.5 pounds and didn’t attempt to cut additional weight. Pichel missed on his first attempt, too, at 157 – but used his extra hour to get official at 155.5. After that, though, the fight was scrapped.

Bonfim, from Brazil, was set to fight a few bouts before his brother, Gabriel Bonfim, a welterweight who takes on Nicolas Dalby in the co-main event. Bonfim and Dalby each made weight.

On the prelims, Brazil’s [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was set to make his UFC debut on less than three weeks’ notice against [autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag] (15-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC). Marcos was 136 pounds, but Hugo came in at 138.5. He didn’t attempt to cut additional weight, and the bantamweight bout was scrapped after the weigh-ins.

With the changes, the UFC Fight Night 231 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)

  • Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis
  • Gabriel Bonfim vs. Nicolas Dalby
  • Don’Tale Mayes vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
  • Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
  • Armen Petrosyan vs. Rodolfo Vieira

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

  • Elves Brener vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky – 165-pound contract weight
  • Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
  • Modestas Bukauskas vs. Vitor Petrino
  • Denise Gomes vs. Angela Hill
  • Montserrat Conejo vs. Eduarda Moura – 119.5 catchweight (Moura missed weight)
  • Marc Diakiese vs. Kaue Fernandes

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

UFC Fight Night 231 weigh-in results: Three miss marks in Sao Paulo, two fights scrapped

Check out the results from the official UFC Fight Night 231 fighter weigh-ins from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Official weigh-ins for UFC Fight Night 231 took place Friday, and three fighters missed their marks – which led to two fight cancellations.

Ismael Bonfim (19-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was set to open the main card at lightweight against Vinc Pichel (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), but Bonfim missed the non-title limit by 3.5 pounds at 159.5. Pichel was the last fighter to come to the scale during the two-hour official window and missed the mark, as well, at 157 pounds. He was given an extra hour to cut the additional weight, though, and made weight at 155.5 pounds. After that, though, the fight was canceled, presumably due to Bonfim’s miss.

UFC newcomer Victor Hugo (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was heavy for his bantamweight fight against Daniel Marcos (15-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on the prelims. He came in at 138.5 pounds, and instead of making his promotional debut on less than three weeks’ notice, his fight was scrapped, too.

In addition, UFC newcomer Eduarda Moura (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) came in well over the women’s strawweight limit for her promotional debut against Montserrat Conejo (10-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC). Moura, the biggest betting favorite on the entire card at -625, was 119.5 pounds. Conejo weighed in at 114 early in the two-hour window. Their fight was approved, though, at a catchweight, and Moura will be fined 30 percent of her purse.

In the main event, Jailton Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) meets two-time heavyweight title challenger Derrick Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC). Lewis weighed in right at the top of the heavyweight limit at 265 pounds, which is typical for him. He was 256 pounds for his UFC debut in 2014, but hasn’t had a weigh-in less than 261.5 since then. Almeida came in at 236, which will make for a potential size difference of around 30 pounds.

The full UFC Fight Night 231 weigh-in results included:

MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)

  • Jailton Almeida (236) vs. Derrick Lewis (265)
  • Gabriel Bonfim (170.5) vs. Nicolas Dalby (170.5)
  • Don’Tale Mayes (264) vs. Rodrigo Nascimento (264)
  • Caio Borralho (186) vs. Abus Magomedov (185)
  • Armen Petrosyan (186) vs. Rodolfo Vieira (185.5)
  • Ismael Bonfim (159.5)* vs. Vinc Pichel (155.5)**

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

  • Elves Brener (164) vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky (165) – 165-pound contract weight
  • Rinat Fakhretdinov (170.5) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171)
  • Victor Hugo (138.5)*** vs. Daniel Marcos (136)
  • Modestas Bukauskas (205.5) vs. Vitor Petrino (206)
  • Denise Gomes (115.5) vs. Angela Hill (115.5)
  • Montserrat Conejo (114) vs. Eduarda Moura (119.5)****
  • Marc Diakiese (155) vs. Kaue Fernandes (155)

*Ismael Bonfim missed the lightweight limit. His fight against Vinc Pichel subsequently was canceled.
**Pichel was 157 on his first attempt. He was given an additional hour and made weight at 155.5 pounds, but his fight with Bonfim was canceled due to Bonfim’s weight miss.
**Hugo missed the bantamweight limit. His fight against Daniel Marcos subsequently was canceled.
***Moura missed the women’s strawweight limit. She will be fined 30 percent of her purse, but a catchweight bout against Montserrat Conejo was approved.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

UFC free fight: Derrick Lewis puts Curtis Blaydes out cold with vicious uppercut

Watch Derrick Lewis’ nasty uppercut knockout of Curtis Blaydes from 2021.

[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]’s power is something else.

Time and time again, “The Black Beast” has been put away high-level heavyweights in the octagon, and his fight with Curtis Blaydes was no exception. Back at UFC Fight Night 185 in 2021, Lewis knocked out Blaydes with a nasty uppercut and then followed up with ground-and-pound to put an end to his four-fight winning streak.

It was a ruthless finish by Lewis, who earned a $50,000 bonus for Performance of the Night for the knockout.

You can watch Lewis’ win over Blaydes in the video above.

Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) returns to the cage this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 231, which goes down at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. He takes on rising contender Jailton Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC).

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

MMA Junkie Radio #3409: UFC Fight Night 231 preview, Jason Jackson interview, more

Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” right here.


Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,409, the fellas welcome in Bellator welterweight [autotag]Jason Jackson[/autotag], who fights Yaroslav Amosov for the title at Bellator 301. The fellas also break down this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 231 which takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tune in!

UFC’s Caio Borralho explains how watching Conor McGregor turned him into a southpaw

Rising UFC middleweight Caio Borralho took inspiration from Conor McGregor’s fighting style.

[autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag] took inspiration from [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s fighting style.

Unbeaten in the UFC, the rising middleweight is on an 11-fight winning streak. Borralho (14-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) cites former two-division champions Georges St-Pierre and McGregor as inspirations, and says he even changed his striking stance because of McGregor.

“I was orthodox then I changed to southpaw watching him,” Borralho said on the “Fitz Nation” podcast. “Because of Conor, I was like, ‘Man, I need to be southpaw. I need to train southpaw.’ So, I started training only southpaw for years and years. Now I’m more southpaw than orthodox because of him.”

Borralho faces Abus Magomedov (25-5-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 main card at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. The event streams on ESPN+.

Borralho has taken the necessary steps to reach his championship goal by training with the likes of middleweight champ Sean Strickland and undefeated Khamzat Chimaev, but he wants to leave his mark on the sport in a specific way.

“For sure I want to be a world champion,” Borralho said. “That’s for sure. That’s the main goal when I started MMA is to be a world champion. … I don’t want to be the greatest pound-for-pound king or the greatest of all time. I just want to be remembered as one of the most cerebral fighters in the game, one of the smartest fighters just like St-Pierre. If I’m remembered just like him, I’m happy with it.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

Henry Cejudo compares UFC’s Jailton Almeida to Charles Oliveira: ‘He’s an artist at heavyweight’

Henry Cejudo sees Jailton Almeida as the heavyweight version of former UFC champ Charles Oliveira.

[autotag]Henry Cejudo[/autotag] sees [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] as the heavyweight version of former UFC champion [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag].

Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will look to catapult himself to title contention when he meets former title challenger Derrick Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 headliner at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. The event streams on ESPN+.

“Malhadinho” boasts a 100 percent finish rate, with 12 of his professional wins coming by submission – most recently a first-round rear-naked choke of Jairzinho Rozenstruik in May.

“Almeida is the replica of what Charles Oliveira is at the heavyweight division,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “His jiu-jitsu and top submissions, I mean, he’s an artist at heavyweight. We saw a lot of his submissions, from rear-naked chokes to triangles. I mean, we’re taking about a damn heavyweight here.

“Very crafty off of his back, very crafty up top, and he will slide things in because he knows that’s where his No. 1 strength is. And his finishing ability. All of his wins have come from stoppages. He’s either knocked you out, or he’s submitted you. This dude’s not planning on going five rounds with Derrick Lewis.”

Cejudo also pointed to Almeida’s 14-fight winning streak and the type of confidence it brings him. According to BetMGM, Almeida is a big -470 favorite over Lewis, who is a +350 underdog.

“His movement and his athleticism,” Cejudo continued. “This dude could almost be a damn football player. He can almost be a quarterback, a wide receiver, you call it. The dude has a certain agility that makes him different from a lot of the other heavyweights. And the most important gift of them all, his confidence. He’s a very confident human. He believes in himself.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

UFC free fight: Derrick Lewis blasts Marcos Rogerio de Lima with flying knee, scores 33-second TKO

Watch Derrick Lewis blast Marcos Rogerio de Lima with a flying knee in a 33-second TKO win.

[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] knows how to bounce back from defeats in style.

The fan-favorite UFC heavyweight snapped a three-fight losing streak this past July with one of his best career knockouts. Back at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Lewis needed just 33 seconds with Marcos Rogerio de Lima to close the show as he blasted de Lima with a flying knee to the chin and then finished with ground-and-pound.

You can rewatch Lewis’ most recent win in the video above.

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Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) returns to the cage this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 231, which goes down at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo. He takes on rising contender Jailton Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC).

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

Why Jailton Almeida favors Sergei Pavlovich over Tom Aspinall in UFC 295 interim heavyweight title fight

Jailton Almeida is picking Sergei Pavlovich to beat Tom Aspinall at UFC 295.

Heavyweight fights are often a flip of the coin, but in the upcoming UFC interim heavyweight title fight [autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] has a favorite.

After the cancellation of the UFC heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Micocic, which was supposed to headline UFC 295 on Nov. 11, the promotion booked an interim title fight pitting Sergei Pavlovich against Tom Aspinall.

Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) thinks Pavlovich is going to win that fight, given that he was supposed to be the backup for Jones-Miocic, and was already training for that date.

“Jon Jones’ injury ones up opportunities, and now we have Tom Aspinall vs. Pavlovich,” Almeida said through an interpreter at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 231 media day. “As far as who I see as the favorite, I think Tom Aspinall didn’t have the mentality that he was going to fight for the belt. Actually, after his fight, he said he wanted Ciryl Gane.

“Meanwhile, Pavlovich is a guy that had his mind focused on fighting for the belt, and he was serving as backup and was doing a full camp. I think I’ll favor Pavlovich. He’s the guy with the full camp, and Aspinall was just training to train. He wasn’t mentally ready for a title fight. He wasn’t thinking about the title.”

Almeida returns to the cage this Saturday to take on Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC Fight Night 231, which takes place at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, and streams on ESPN+.

He believes a win over Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC) could get him a shot at the belt or a title eliminator bout. Almeida also mentioned how he was bummed to hear about Jones’ injury, as he wants that fight in the future.

“I maybe do worry a little about not achieving my dream of fighting against Jon Jones,” Almeida said regarding Jones’ torn pectoral. “I’ve said it in interviews that my dream is to fight Jon Jones.

“However, I’m also happy for the opportunities to fight for the title that get opened up now. Jon Jones is out and now Tom Aspinall is fighting Sergei Pavlovich. If I beat Derrick Lewis on Saturday, I could be next or maybe they make me do one more. There’s a lot going on in the division, but it might open up opportunities.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

Derrick Lewis makes light of reckless driving charge before UFC Fight Night 231 headliner

Derrick Lewis brushed off questions about his recent arrest for reckless driving ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 headliner.

[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] brushed off questions about his recent arrest for reckless driving ahead of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 231 headliner.

Lewis (27-11 MMA, 18-9 UFC), a longtime heavyweight contender who meets Jailton Almeida (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in this weekend’s main event at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, was arrested and charged just 11 days out from his fight in Harris County (Texas) for allegedly driving 136 mph in a 50 mph zone.

“The Black Beast,” who holds the record for most knockout wins in UFC history, was released on $100 bond hours after his arrest. Lewis is due back in court Dec. 27.

When asked about the situation at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 231 media day, Lewis claimed it was all a case of mistaken identity.

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“Nah, I don’t even think that was me,” Lewis told reporters in a media scrum released by UFC. “That guy had hair. You seen the picture? I don’t got no hair. That ain’t me.”

According to the arrest report, the person detained was described as having black hair. Lewis is, of course, bald.

Despite the arrest, Lewis’ matchup with Almeida was not jeopardized. After snapping a three-fight losing skid with a vicious knockout of Marcos Rogerio de Lima in August, Lewis will try to put together consecutive victories against his streaking Brazilian foe.

“I think our skills match up pretty well, especially on the ground,” Lewis said. “I think I can get a leg lock on him early in the first round.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.

UFC Fight Night 231’s Daniel Marcos encouraged by undefeated record

The zero on Daniel Marcos’ record doesn’t hold any supernatural powers over his mental.

Unbeaten records are special and don’t usually last long in the UFC.

Fighting in the premiere MMA organization, it’s hard to thrive without setbacks here and there. UFC bantamweight [autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag] knows he’s one of the few still yet to taste defeat in the UFC, but by no means does he let that pressure him. It’s quite the opposite, actually. It motivates him.

“I think getting to see that record is a good thing because it’s an indicator that I’m doing things well, and I’m truly doing everything the best way possible,” Marcos told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “That’s also due to the great team around me. It’s not just me. It’s a good indicator that we’re doing things well, but the truth is that when I step in the cage, I don’t think or see a record, nothing.

“I get up there, and I’m fighting at 0-0. I step in against whoever I need to fight, and I’m 0-0. But yes, that indicator shows me I’m doing well and that I need to keep working hard. That’s all it means.”

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Marcos (15-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) returns Saturday at UFC Fight Night 231 at Ginasio Do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He fights Victor Hugo (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at the event which streams on ESPN+.

The Peruvian fighter acknowledges it’s a tough ask fighting a Brazilian at home, but he’s determined to get his third UFC win and get one step closer to the rankings.

“Victor Hugo is someone who just entered the UFC, and that’s all I know,” Marcos said. “I saw a few of his fights and that’s all. I know getting to the UFC is not easy, and I know that everyone here is training hard and everyone is a tough fight. For me, UFC is the highest level of MMA. Whoever I get, I know they’re always going to be ready. What I can say is that Victor Hugo has yet to face someone like me. I’m coming out to show how hard I’ve been training and where I’m trying to get. I’m not going to give him a chance of winning. I’m going to be on him, and I’m looking to squash him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.