Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2024.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from January 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for January.
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 January 2024.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from January 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for January.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC Fight Night 234 in Las Vegas.
The first UFC event of 2024 is in the books and while there weren’t a ton of contender fights featured, the card proved impactful for one bantamweight.
At UFC Fight Night 234, [autotag]Mario Bautista[/autotag] defeated Ricky Simon by unanimous decision for arguably the biggest victory of his professional career. In doing so, he elevates to No. 11 in the USA Today Sports/MMA Junkie bantamweight rankings.
UFC flyweight [autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag] also enters the USA Today Sports/MMA Junkie flyweight rankings rankings as an honorable mention for the first time, thanks to his impressive TKO victory over LFA flyweight champion Felipe Bunes in the event’s curtain-jerker.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
Nikolas Motta picked up the event’s fastest finish, but was left without a post-fight performance bonus at UFC Fight Night 234.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Nikolas Motta[/autotag] beat Tom Nolan with a first-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Motta, who picked up the event’s fastest finish, but was left without a post-fight performance bonus.
Preston Parsons got back in the win column at UFC Fight Night 234 following a split decision loss to Trevin Giles about 10 months ago.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Preston Parsons[/autotag] beat Matthew Semelsberger with a unanimous decision Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Parsons, who got back in the win column following a split decision loss to Trevin Giles about 10 months ago.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta won for the second straight time after the first loss of his career.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] beat Andrei Arlovski with a unanimous decision Saturday to open up the main card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Cortes-Acosta, who won for the second straight time after the first loss of his career.
Marcus McGhee got his third post-fight bonus in three UFC fights when he took out Gaston Bolanos at UFC Fight Night 234.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Marcus McGhee[/autotag] beat Gaston Bolanos with a second-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with McGhee, who won for the fifth straight time and got his third post-fight bonus in three UFC fights.
Farid Basharat wept the judges scorecards and stayed unbeaten at UFC Fight Night 234. Now he’s eyeing the top of the division.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag] beat Taylor Lapilus with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Basharat, who swept the judges scorecards and stayed unbeaten.
Joshua Van won for the eighth straight time and got his first finish in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 234. Now he’s eyeing a quick ascension.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Joshua Van[/autotag] beat Felipe Bunes with a second-round TKO Saturday to open up the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Van, who won for the eighth straight time and got his first finish in the UFC.
Johnny Walker won’t give up on his title hopes after UFC Fight Night 234.
[autotag]Johnny Walker[/autotag] won’t give up on his title hopes after UFC Fight Night 234.
Walker (21-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) was knocked out by [autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag] (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) in Round 2 of their main event Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Ankalaev settled the score with Walker after their first fight at UFC 294 was ruled a no contest due to an an illegal knee which rendered Walker unable to continue. Walker took to Instagram to open up on the loss.
“I’m good, just a little scratch on my nose,” Walker said. “I’m going to watch my fight and see what mistakes I did later on. … It is what it is. We fight the best in the world. I’m one of the best in the world and I’m going to face the best in the world. It could be me, could be him. So he had a better night than me, and congratulations to him, Magomed Ankalaev. Hope he gets the belt now and I’m going to keep grinding, keep going forward, and keep going upwards.”
“Win or learn right @coach , fighting the best in the world, one little mistake cost the win 🥇, you don’t make make so you can’t brake me, you didn’t build me so you can’t kill me! Let’s keep climbing.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2GaXGyvqHb/
Prior to back-to-back fights with Ankalaev, Walker picked up three straight wins over Ion Cuțelaba, Paul Craig, and former title challenger Anthony Smith.
[lawrence-related id=2709050,2708583,2708696]
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
