Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out all the medial suspensions from this past Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 50 event in Nashville, Tenn.
UFC on ESPN 50 took place Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., and featured 12 fights.
Monday, MMA Junkie acquired a list of athlete medical suspensions from the Tennessee Athletic Commission, the sanctioning body that oversaw the event. Most injury specifics were not disclosed.
Check out the full list of medical suspensions from UFC on ESPN 50 below.
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Cory Sandhagen might wind up looking back at UFC on ESPN 50 as one of the most polarizing moments of his MMA career.
[autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] might wind up looking back at UFC on ESPN 50 as one of the most polarizing moments of his MMA career.
On one hand, Sandhagen (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) picked up a crucial win in the bantamweight division with an utterly dominant unanimous decision against Rob Font (20-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC). The fight was a main event, and Sandhagen called for a title shot afterward. These all seem to be good things.
But Sandhagen’s 25-minute win, which was marked by nearly 20 minutes of control time and some of the paltriest combined striking numbers in UFC history, was derided by many critics, and UFC president Dana White reportedly walked out of the arena in the middle of the fight rather than stay for the end.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, now Sandhagen will have to put surgery and rehab next on his plate instead of thinking about the title, which champion Aljamain Sterling has on the line later this month against Sean O’Malley.
Sandhagen posted on Instagram on Monday to say he tore his tricep early in the fight, and that it led to his wrestling-heavy strategy.
“Fully torn tricep in Round 1 :/,” Sandhagen posted. “Wasn’t able to punch or elbow with that arm without pain and it feeling like shit. Did what I had to do to win that night. Surgery this week – back soon! PEACE – LOVE YOU”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvpaZdduFGK
Champ Sterling was critical of Sandhagen’s performance. So was former dual titleholder Henry Cejudo. And then there was the White thing.
It’s not yet known how long Sandhagen will be out to recover.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 51.
Jake Hadley says his devastating weight cut compromised his performance at UFC on ESPN 50.
[autotag]Jake Hadley[/autotag] says his devastating weight cut compromised his performance at UFC on ESPN 50.
Hadley (10-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) lost a unanimous decision in an all-out war against [autotag]Cody Durden[/autotag] (16-4-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC) in their flyweight bout this past Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Hadley released a statement on social media, revealing that he experienced a near-death situation during his weight cut.
“Lost the fight few things went wrong before the fight I almost died during the weight cut I actually saw God for a second. couldn’t rehydrate like normal felt like that had a major effect on my performance because I couldn’t push like normal anyone who knows me knows I never gas.”
“Fix theses mistakes ready for the next one respect to Cody he showed he was a true warrior surviving that armbar what a gangster. Nashville fans was absolutely amazing they really showed me some love lot of people telling me should of been FOTN I dunno but Durden deserves a bonus.”
fix theses mistakes ready for the next one respect to cody he showed he was a true warrior surviving that armbar what a gangster. Nashville fans was absolutely amazing they really showed me some love lot of people telling me should of been FOTN I dunno but durden deserves a bonus
— Jake Hadley (@JakeHadleyMMA) August 6, 2023
With the loss, Hadley saw his two-fight winning streak snapped by the hands of Durden, who has now won three straight.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
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Aljamain Sterling wasn’t fond of Cory Sandhagen’s performance at UFC on ESPN 50.
[autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag] wasn’t fond of [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag]’s performance at UFC on ESPN 50.
Sandhagen (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) put on a grappling clinic en route to a dominant decision win over [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag] (20-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC) this past Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Sandhagen, who suffered a quick submission loss to Sterling in June 2020, was in firm control throughout the fight, but UFC bantamweight champion Sterling thinks he could have done more.
“Honestly, respectfully, it was a sh*t fight,” Sterling told ESPN. “Cory did what he had to do to win, so I respect that. Font definitely needs to pick up on his grappling to escape, give up your back, go to all fours, something. You can’t just sit down on your back and kind of just lay there hoping for a submission. It doesn’t work like that – not at this level. I think that kind of showed myself and Merab (Dvalishvili) that there’s levels to this. There’s a reason why we’re at the top.”
Although he revealed he injured his tricep in the fight, Sandhagen called for a title shot after defeating Font. But Sterling doesn’t see this win propelling him a step further in his title pursuit.
“I think he stays right where he is,” Sterling said. “Unfortunately, injury is part of sport. I can’t take anything away from him. Obviously tearing a tricep is a big thing. I’ve torn my bicep before. I’ve got a partially torn one, also. I know what it’s like to deal with injuries in a fight.
“I just think he could have done a little bit more on top. Your tricep doesn’t stop you from dropping elbows. It doesn’t stop you from punching. There’s levels to this, and respect to him for implementing grappling now to his arsenal – but there’s levels.”
Sterling defends his title against Sean O’Malley in the UFC 292 main event on Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston. “The Funkmaster” hinted on several occasions that his days at 135 pounds are numbered, suggesting that Sandhagen could get his desired title shot after all – but not against him.
“You’ve got a guy in Merab who’s right there, as well,” Sterling said. “Maybe they’ll be fighting for the vacant title.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
Cory Sandhagen wants a title shot after his win at UFC on ESPN 50, but it depends on how Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley unfolds.
[autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] got his fourth main event win inside the octagon on Saturday when he defeated Rob Font in one-sided fashion at UFC on ESPN 50.
Despite being compromised by an arm injury early in the fight, Sandhagen (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) managed to cruise to a definitive win over Font (20-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC) with the use of his grappling, taking a unanimous decision at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
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After the fight, Sandhagen called for a title shot against the winner of Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley, who meet in less than two weeks at UFC 292 in Boston.
Is he the right man to get the opportunity, though? Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on his future after UFC on ESPN 50.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC on ESPN 50, where Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font set a dubious record for strikes landed in a fight.
The UFC made its sixth stop in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday with UFC on ESPN 50, which took place at Bridgestone Arena and saw seven of 12 fights on the card end in a decision.
Among those were the main event, where [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) cruised to a unanimous decision win over [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag] (20-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC) in a 140-pound catchweight fight that featured a substantial lack of action.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC on ESPN 50.
Tatiana Suarez hopes she punched her ticket to a title shot Saturday at UFC on ESPN 50. At minimum, she knows she’s now in the mix.
[autotag]Tatiana Suarez[/autotag] hopes she punched her ticket to a title shot Saturday. But at minimum, she knows she’s now in the mix.
Suarez (10-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) put on a dominant performance and submitted former women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade (24-12 MMA, 15-10 UFC) in the second round of the UFC on ESPN 50 co-main event in Nashville, Tenn.
Suarez, who won Season 23 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and was a rising contender before she lost nearly four years to injury layoffs, has back-to-back wins starting with her return earlier this year, and both were bonus-winning submissions.
Despite the accoladed resume Andrade possesses, Suarez said she thought she could submit her.
“I think where I shine, obviously, is I’m a very good grappler, and I think she she turns her back and I have a lot of submissions – I have a tight squeeze,” Suarez said at her post-fight news conference. “I can pull things off that a lot of women can’t because I have wrestled my whole entire life. I had a really good front headlock when I was wrestling and a lot of men tell me how tight my squeeze is. So I was I was happy that I could get a submission win – another guillotine on my record. I’m just really excited about it. I felt like I could submit her.”
Suarez said having Andrade on her resume in the win column will be one more thing to give her career a confidence boost. It seems like she’s surrounded with people who also are trying to do the same.
When she abandoned going after an early takedown in the name of striking, some may have thought it was a risk.
“I’m just really excited about this one because I think a lot of people fear her on the feet,” Suarez said. “That’s where she has her most success. I decided to strike with her a lot more than I do in all of my other fights. If you watch all my fights, I always get a takedown within the first minute of every fight I’ve ever had. I didn’t do that this fight.
“My brother was like, ‘Stick to your game plan.’ My game plan is always whatever comes natural to me. And for some reason, it felt natural to me. I felt like I had the better footwork. I felt like I had the better strikes. I feel like I’m dangerous, too. People told me, ‘Remember: You’re the scary one. She’s feared, but so are you.'”
Now Suarez hopes she might be in position to ask for a 115-pound title shot. Champion Zhang Weili is scheduled to put the belt on the line in less than two weeks at UFC 292 in Boston.
But don’t imagine Suarez having a lack of confidence if she was asked to face the winner. She’s already got a flyweight win over current champ Alexa Grasso, as well as this Andrade win to buoy her.
“I think I match up well against them. I think I match up well against everybody,” she said. “I think that I’m going to be a world champion. I think I’m the best in the world, and I’m going for that strap. So whatever they want to give me, I’ll make it happen. But I do believe that I deserve to fight for the title. I don’t know who’s going to win, but I want the winner.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
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Cory Sandhagen had nearly 20 minutes of control time in a dominant 25-minute decision win over Rob Font at UFC on ESPN 50 in Nashville.
[autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] likely would’ve preferred the fans for his main event left the arena after having showered praise and applause on him.
Instead, Sandhagen (17-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) got hit fairly consistently by the boo-birds through much of the final four rounds of his 50-45 sweep of the scorecards against Rob Font (20-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 50 main event in Nashville, Tenn. The fans at Bridgestone Arena let Sandhagen know a finish was going to be appreciated.
The finish never came, but Sandhagen said the win went how it was supposed to go, and that was to send a message to future opponents that if they think they can beat Sandhagen by keeping him off the feet, he might just be the one that instigates a ground fight.
“That was the game plan,” Sandhagen said. “I thought that honestly he would have made some pretty good adjustments and stuff a couple of them later in the fight. Font doesn’t wrestle that good. He doesn’t have an immediate wrestler reaction. He doesn’t get up very well. The only way that he really gets up is on that underhook, and if I just shut that down, he’s not going to really get up.
“I know that there’s lots of boos and it’s not the most exciting win for the people in the crowd. But I (swept the scorecards against) the No. 7 guy in the world. The time before that, I arguably (did the same against Marlon Vera), except for the one idiot of a judge (who made it a split decision). And then the one before that, I beat Song Yadong by stopping him in the fourth with a with a really bad cut. I’m on my way to being one of the best mixed martial artists in the world. I want to be able to outwrestle the strikers and I want to be able to outstrike the wrestlers. That’s my path. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to be the best in the world, and I think I showed tonight that if you’re going to think that it’s just going to be a striking match, we’re wrestling.”
Sandhagen now has won three straight fights after a two-fight skid that saw him drop decisions to former champions T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan. The latter fight, at UFC 267 in October 2021, was for the vacant bantamweight title.
The win over Font – though it came on short notice, which made him even more expected to win – has Sandhagen officially back in the title picture at 135 pounds, and he said he’ll be in Boston later this month for UFC 292, at which bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling will put his title on the line against first-time challenger Sean O’Malley.
Plain and simple: Sandhagen wants the winner, even if it’s a new champ.
“I like that match, too,” he said. “I know the fans would be really excited about that. O’Malley is a hell of an athlete, and I’m excited about that fight, too. I think that that’s one that the fans really, really want to see, so I think it’s a win-win for me (if it’s Sterling or O’Malley).”
Sandhagen said his post-fight medical exam may have revealed a torn triceps muscle, and the 31-year-old also said lingering elbow issues might need to be taken care of before he gets back in there.
But considering the Sterling-O’Malley winner likely will want some time off, maybe Sandhagen can get healthy while waiting and watching things unfold. He was set to fight the highly touted Umar Nurmagomedov in Saturday’s main event before Nurmagomedov pulled out, and that could be a fight he gets asked to take before a title shot, too.
But even though the majority of the fans sounded like they were nonplussed with the way Sandhagen went about his win over Font – he had nearly 20 minutes of control time in a 25-minute fight – he said it was how things had to go making the change from Nurmagomedov.
“I think honestly, you can’t sleep on Font,” Sandhagen said. “No one knows how good Umar is. He’s played up like he’s a really phenomenal fighter. He’s definitely real good. So is everyone else in the 135 division, you know? I didn’t buy into the whole ‘Umar’s this next phenom’ thing, not because I don’t think that Umar is good, because I know he’s good. But you don’t know until you’re a little bit of a ways into this career.
“That was my 13th fight (in the UFC). That was my fifth main event. You don’t know things about Umar like you know things about me, but I wouldn’t necessarily call Font an easier opponent. It’s one that I’m definitely more familiar with fighting, but that doesn’t make him an easy fight to take on two and a half weeks’ notice, especially because he was getting ready to fight Song before that.
“But I would also like to praise Rob Font big time. He didn’t have to take this fight. The reason I was on this card is because Rob Font took the fight. There wasn’t going to be too many other people, so I’m super grateful to Rob for that. I think that the people should really give him some credit for that, too, because one, he’s a phenomenal fighter. And two, he took a fight against me on two and a half weeks’ notice, main event. That’s a big deal. So all the applause to Rob, also.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
Check out these photos of UFC women’s strawweight contender and Season 23 “Ultimate Fighter” winner Tatiana Suarez through the years.
Check out these photos of UFC women’s strawweight contender and Season 23 “Ultimate Fighter” winner [autotag]Tatiana Suarez[/autotag] through the years.
UFC on ESPN 50 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 50 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $170,500.
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 50 took place at Bridgestone Arena. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC on ESPN 50 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Rob Font[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Tatiana Suarez[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Dustin Jacoby[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Diego Lopes[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Gavin Tucker[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Tanner Boser[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Aleksa Camur[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Ludovit Klein[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Ignacio Bahamondes[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Kyler Phillips[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Raoni Barcelos[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Carlston Harris[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Jeremiah Wells[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Billy Quarantillo[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Cody Durden[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Jake Hadley[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Sean Woodson[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Dennis Buzukja[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Asu Almabaev[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Ode Osbourne[/autotag]: $6,000
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’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 $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $50,000 while title challengers get $50,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-50 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $5,222,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $19,811,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 50.
