Tag: UFC on ESPN 13

UFC on ESPN 13 post-event facts: A rare fight card without a single knockdown

Check out all the facts and figures from UFC on ESPN 13, which saw Calvin Kattar beat Dan Ige in the main event in Abu Dhabi.

The second in UFC’s string of “Fight Island” events went down on Wednesday with UFC on ESPN 13, which took place at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

[autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (22-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) continued to surge as a featherweight contender in the main event when he outworked [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) to a unanimous decision. Both men showed great toughness in the fight, and that was a theme throughout the evening.

For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for

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General

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UFC on ESPN 13 became the second event in UFC history to feature zero knockdowns. UFC Fight Night 9 in April 2007 was the other.

The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout for the event totaled $97,000.

Debuting fighters went 3-1 at the event.

[autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag], [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag], [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] and [autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag] earned $50,000 UFC on ESPN 13 fight-night bonuses.

UFC on ESPN 13 drew an announced attendance of zero for a live gate of $0.

Betting favorites went 7-4 on the card.

Betting favorites improved to 12-6 in UFC headliners this year.

Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 2:05:42.

Main card

Dan Ige

Ige has suffered all three of his career losses by decision.

Ige failed to complete a takedown for the first time in his UFC career.

[autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag] (16-11-1 MMA, 5-9 UFC) snapped his three-fight losing skid for his first victory since December 2017.

Elliott improved to 3-5 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in December 2016.

Elliott has earned four of his five UFC victories by decision.

[autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] (10-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) has suffered five of his seven career losses by decision.

[autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] (23-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has earned 17 of his 23 career victories by decision. That includes six of his seven UFC wins.

[autotag]Cody Stamann[/autotag] (19-3-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) has suffered two of his three career losses by decision.

Alhassan (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) has suffered both of his career losses by decision.

Preliminary card

Khamzat Chimaev

Chimaev (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned all of his career victories by stoppage.

[autotag]John Phillips[/autotag] (22-10 MMA, 1-4 UFC) has suffered eight of his 10 career losses by stoppage.

Phillips has suffered three of his four UFC losses by submission.

[autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) fell to 1-1 since he moved up to the featherweight division in November.

Ramos has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage. He’s been knocked out in both of his UFC defeats.

Bukauskas (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned 10 of his 11 career victories by stoppage.

[autotag]Andreas Michailidis[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered all four of his career losses by knockout.

[autotag]Jarred Gordon[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has earned three of his four UFC victories by decision.

[autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag] (18-4-1 MMA, 1-3 UFC) has suffered all three of his UFC losses by stoppage.

[autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag] (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has earned seven of her eight career victories by stoppage.

[autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag] (11-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has suffered five of her six career losses by stoppage.

Belbita has suffered all five of his career stoppage losses by submission.

[autotag]Jack Shore[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has earned 12 of his 13 career victories by stoppage. He’s finished both of his UFC wins by submission.

[autotag]Aaron Phillips[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-3 UFC) was unsuccessful in his return to the octagon.

Phillips’ skid in UFC competition was extended to three fights. He went 0-2 in his previous tenure in 2014.

Phillips suffered the first submission loss of his career.

UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.

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Jimmie Rivera wants to work way to title after UFC on ESPN 13: Petr Yan ‘irks me’ as champion

Jimmie Rivera believes he gave new UFC bantamweight champ Petr Yan his toughest fight and hopes to eventually get a rematch.

[autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] believes he gave new UFC bantamweight champ [autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] his toughest fight and hopes to eventually get a rematch.

If that’s to happen, though, Rivera (23-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) knows he’ll need better performances than what he delivered in his unanimous decision win over Cody Stamann (19-3-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) in a featherweight bout Wednesday at UFC on ESPN 13, which took place at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Rivera gave Yan (15-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) arguably his biggest struggle in the octagon when they met at UFC 238 in June 2019. He lost a unanimous decision, but had more success than most who have fallen to the Russian. Rivera thinks he has what it takes to beat Yan, and his goal is to run it back.

“It irks me,” Rivera told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during the UFC on ESPN 13 post-fight press conference. “It bothers me. I’m not saying I don’t like that he’s champion. I love it. He did an awesome job against (Jose) Aldo, it’s just I came really close to winning that fight and I learned – I had a hard lesson learned of coasting at the end of the first and second round. I knew I was up in the round, I knew I dominated in the last 30 seconds of each the first and second I coasted, and I didn’t make that same mistake tonight when I fought Cody Stamann. I was in the there fighting the whole time focused, eyes on the prize.”

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Rivera said he’s not making getting ahead of himself. He knows he came into UFC on ESPN 13 with a 1-3 record in his previous four fights and didn’t necessarily win in a highlight-reel fashion. Rivera said he holds himself to a higher standard than anyone, and although he got an important win, knows he’ll need to step it up going forward.

“I think I have to have some better outcomes,” Rivera said. “I wish I had a finish tonight obviously with the fight so that would’ve sent me even more forward. I’ve just got to put my head down and grind. That’s what I did leading up to the Marlon Moraes fight and I just got to do the same thing now. Put my head down and grind and work hard and get ready.”

Ultimately Rivera is looking up at Yan, though, and using the idea of a rematch as inspiration to climb to the top. Whether he gets there remains to be seen, but Rivera knows what he would be capable of in a rematch.

“Of course he’s beatable,” Rivera said. “I beat him for almost 14 minutes in the fight we had. He won (the fight) because he hit me with two shots – a shot in the first and a shot in the second where I dropped and got back up. It wasn’t like a finish shot, but it was a shot I didn’t see and it’s the shots that you don’t see are the worst shots that you take. Nothing against Petr Yan, he’s a tough S.O.B., but I would love to get that fight back.”

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After nightmare two weeks, Jared Gordon says he’s ready to make run at featherweight

Back to his natural weight class, Jared Gordon is looking to shine.

ABU DHABI – [autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag] is no stranger to overcoming adversity.

Gordon (16-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) picked up a dominant unanimous decision win over Chris Fishgold on Wednesday at UFC on ESPN 13, but the journey to get to the fight might have been his toughest battle.

It started with family tragedy when, 10 weeks into pregnancy, his fiancee had a miscarriage. She then tested positive for COVID-19, and Gordon had to pack his stuff and leave the apartment to isolate.

Gordon’s journey to Abu Dhabi didn’t come without numerous scares, either. After testing negative in coronavirus-blighted Florida, he hopped onto a flight to Las Vegas. However, he boarded that flight without his team after all of his cornermen from Sanford MMA tested positive for COVID-19.

Gordon then tested negative once more in Las Vegas, which allowed him to travel to Abu Dhabi. He had a little extra weight to cut than usual as he was dropping back down to 145 pounds for the first time since his UFC debut in 2017.

Upon arrival, Gordon was tested again and was later told that he had tested positive for COVID-19. After everything he went through, it was all about to be taken away from him, but luckily for Gordon, it was later identified as a false positive.

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Finally, Gordon was able to focus on cutting the rest of his weight, with his friend and managerial stablemate Paul Felder coming to the rescue by leaving the commentary booth to corner him. Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick also stepped into the breach, as did ONE Championship featherweight contender and grappling ace Garry Tonon.

With a makeshift corner team advising him between rounds, Gordon delivered a dominant performance to claim a hard-earned win after an emotional time for the 31-year-old. Now he just wants to look ahead and sees a more successful future fighting back in his optimal weight class of featherweight.

“I want to fight,” Gordon told MMA Junkie. “I finally got to the division that I’m supposed to be in – back to the division after three years of injuries. I had eye surgery in November. I had a plate put in my face. I won the fight before that but the fight before that, I got my hamstring pulled off my pelvis in my fight against Joaquim Silva. I did well when I first got to the UFC. My two first wins were dominant, and I missed weight my first fight, so they made me move up.

“So finally, after three years, I’m able to go back to the division that I belong in. (At) ’55, I’m fighting out of my weight class. When the guys start getting really big and really technical, where do I find the advantage? Today I was the bigger guy, and I was clearly the more technical guy, so I had a dominant performance, and that’s how it should have been. I have to improve, but I’m ready to do that.”

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Mounir Lazzez calls out ‘that idiot’ Mike Perry after UFC debut win at ‘Fight Island’

Take a look inside Mounir Lazzez’s win over Abdul Razak Alhassan at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI – [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag] beat Abdul Razak Alhassan with a unanimous decision Wednesday to open up the main card at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.

Take a look inside the fight with Lazzez, who won for the third straight time in his promotional debut.

Result: Mounir Lazzez def. Abdul Razak Alhassan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Updated records: Lazzez (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Alhassan (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC)
Key stat: Lazzez landed four takedowns and won the striking battle 114-70.

Lazzez on the fight’s key moment

“I love to be the underdog and to show my skill, and that’s exactly what happened (Wednesday). I came in as the underdog, and I enjoy the victory. When he put me in the first round against the cage, I said, ‘What, this is all that you’ve got?’ I still have a lot of weapons, and just step by step, I killed his will with the kicks, moving around, high kick, low kick – I showed my wrestling, my takedown defense.”

Lazzez on winning the mental game

“I kept visualizing this over and over as just another fight. Don’t put pressure on yourself and just go enjoy what you do. I love this craft. I love when I get clipped and I see the will inside the eye of my opponent. That mental game – I love that. I love that deep water stuff. My mental game, I’ve said it before – maybe you can be more technical and maybe you can be more powerful, but my will and my mental game, you can’t beat it.”

Lazzez on what he wants next

“I’m healthy – 100 percent. I swear to God, I’m ready to go in two weeks. But I’ll let my management speak to the UFC, and when that idiot (Mike Perry) is ready, I’m ready to go.”

To hear more from Lazzez, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

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Callout Collection: Who UFC on ESPN 13 winners want next – and how likely they’ll get them

Khamzat Chimaev and Mounir Lazzez were among those who name-dropped their preferred next opponents at UFC on ESPN 13 in Abu Dhabi.

Earning wins in the UFC is certainly no easy task, but what comes next is often even more important: the post-fight callout.

So after Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event in Abu Dhabi, who took advantage of their time on the mic? See below for this week’s Callout Collection – and just how realistic each one is.

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First up, let’s take a look at the preliminary card …

Khamzat Chimaev

Wants to fight:[autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag]

The callout: “I never felt in trouble, I do this with all my opponents, I smash them all, first round, second round. I have seven wins, seven finishes. I could fight next week if they have. I told them, give me Donald Cerrone. If they give me (him) it’d be an amazing fight for me. I’m gonna smash him and everybody going to talk about it.”

The reality: [autotag]Khamzat Chamaev[/autotag] made quite the impression on his UFC debut as he totally dominated John Phillips en route to a second-round submission victory. He showed his confidence and ambition in his post-fight interviews, too, as he called for a shot at one of the UFC’s biggest fan-favorite fighters.

Following his middleweight win on “UFC Fight Island,” a matchup against Cerrone would represent the chance for Chimaev to prove his credentials and make an instant impact in his optimal weight class of welterweight, but it seems unlikely that the UFC would throw him in with one of the sport’s biggest names in just his second fight for the promotion.

It seems more likely that the UFC will build Chimaev gradually, most likely against international opposition, for his next couple of fights. A matchup with someone like Gunnar Nelson would offer a fascinating test of his credentials. If he handles “Gunni” as well as he did Phillips, the wait for bigger-name tests likely won’t be long.

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Next up: “The Sniper” picks his next target

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UFC on ESPN+ 30 matchmaker: Who’s next for Dan Ige after loss to Calvin Kattar?

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Dan Ige in this edition of “Sean Shelby’s Shoes.”

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Dan Ige in this edition of “Sean Shelby’s Shoes.”

UFC on ESPN+ 30 matchmaker: Who’s next for Calvin Kattar after win over Dan Ige?

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Calvin Kattar in this edition of “Sean Shelby’s Shoes.”

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Calvin Kattar in this edition of “Sean Shelby’s Shoes.”

UFC on ESPN 13 rookie report: Grading the newcomers at ‘UFC Fight Island’

Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the octagon the first time. How did the four newcomers perform Wednesday?

Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the UFC octagon for the first time. For four athletes, Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event marked that special moment in their respective careers.

Check out this week’s rookie report to see what kind of first impression they made on the sport’s biggest stage from Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

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Modestas Bukauskas

Division: Light heavyweight
Result: Modestas Bukauskas def. Andreas Michailidis via TKO (retirement) – Round 1
Record: (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC)
Grade: B+

Former Cage Warriors light heavyweight champion Modestas Bukauskas claimed a first-round TKO finish on his octagon debut with a finish that was a near carbon copy of the one that earned him his shot on the big stage.

Back at Cage Warriors 111 in November 2019 Bukauskas finished Riccardo Nosiglia with a barrage of powerful elbows against the cage to retain his light heavyweight title. That win saw him earn a call-up to the UFC, and Bukauskas turned to his elbows once again to score a very similar finish at the end of Round 1.

Bukauskas looked loose and relaxed from the start of his matchup against Andrea Michailidis, but took a little time to calibrate his punching range, with some of his early combinations falling short. But as the round progressed he started to make adjustments and step into his combinations. When he did, he showed a noticeable speed advantage.

That’s not to say he didn’t have to deal with some adversity, too. The London-based Lithuanian got clipped a few times by some solid Michailidis shots, but looked untroubled by them as he closed the distance and put the pressure on the Greek debutant before finishing him with the same elbows he produced in Cage Warriors last year.

All in all, it was a solid, impressive start to life in the UFC, and it will be interesting to watch his continued development in the octagon over the coming months.

Next up: Move to 205 doesn’t pay off for “The Spartan” 

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UFC on ESPN 13 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Tim Elliott tops payouts with $10k

UFC on ESPN 13 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that launched after the UFC’s deal with Reebok.

ABU DHABI – Fighters from Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event took home event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $97,000.

The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.

UFC on ESPN 13 took place at Flash Forum. The card aired streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN.

The full UFC on ESPN 13 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:

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[autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag]: $5,000
def. [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]: $5,000

[autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]: $10,000
def. [autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag]: $5,000

[autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag]: $5,000
def. [autotag]Cody Stamann[/autotag]: $5,000

[autotag]Taila Santos[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag]: $5,000

[autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]John Phillips[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag]: $5,000

[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Andreas Michailidis[/autotag]: $3,500

[autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag]: $5,000
def. [autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag]: $4,000

[autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag]: $3,500

[autotag]Jack Shore[/autotag]: $3,500
def. [autotag]Aaron Phillips[/autotag]: $3,500

Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Reebok’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $3,500 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,000; 6-10 bouts get $5,000; 11-15 bouts earn $10,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $15,000; and 21 bouts and more get $20,000. Additionally, champions earn $40,000 while title challengers get $30,000.

In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.

Full 2020 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:

Year-to-date total: $3,123,000
2019 total: $7,370,500
2018 total: $6,901,000
2017 total: $6,295,000
2016 total: $7,138,000
2015 total: $3,185,000
Program-to-date total: $34,127,500

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Fight Tracks: The walkout songs of UFC on ESPN 13 with Oasis, Skynyrd, Chili Peppers, Tupac

Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 13 event at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.

While it takes intense training, world-class skills and maybe even a bit of luck to register a UFC win, picking the right song to accompany you to the cage is a key talent, as well.

Inside, see what the fighters from UFC on ESPN 13 went with as their backing tracks in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

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