Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out all the fighter walkout songs from Saturday’s UFC 305 event in Perth.
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.
See what the fighters from UFC 305 went with as their backing tracks in Perth, Australia. (Fighters listed alphabetically)
Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC on ESPN 61 in Las Vegas.
Following UFC on ESPN 61, the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings required updating.
In the main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Serghei Spivac got one back on Marcin Tybura, winning their heavyweight remach by submission in the first round.
Entering the week at No. 9 in the heavyweight rankings, Spivac switches spots with Tybura, who came in at No. 8.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
Take a look inside the fight with Youssef Zalal, who beat Jarno Errens with a first-round submission at UFC on ESPN 61.
LAS VEGAS – Youssef Zalal beat Jarno Errens with a first-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 61 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Zalal, who picked up a $50,000 bonus with one of just three finishes on the card.
Result: Youssef Zalal def. Jarno Errens via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:52
Updated records: Zalal (15-5-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC), Errens (14-6-1 MMA, 1-3 UFC)
Key stats: After he was let go from his first UFC stint with a 3-3-1 record, Zalal has won five straight – all by stoppage, with four in the first round.
“Man, that dude was trying to take my head off. We kind of saw that. … That was the game plan. I felt a little slow in my hands, but obviously I was critical of myself. … I try to listen to my coaches and really do all the things they said, and I feel like executed the plan as perfect as can be.”
“When I fought Ilia (Topuria), (The announcers) were like, ‘Youssef looks good, but (Topuria) doesn’t look the same. He looks a little old. He’s a little slow.’ I was like, damn: You guys can’t give me props? Maybe I’m that good. Maybe I made him look that way.”
“I don’t care. Whoever they give me. I’m just blessed for this opportunity, and I’m grateful for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to go out there and keep performing. That’s all that matters is performance and what you do in that cage.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Karol Rosa has alternated wins and losses for the past seven fights.
LAS VEGAS – Karol Rosa beat Pannie Kianzad with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 61 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Rosa, who has alternated wins and losses for the past seven fights.
Result: Karol Rosa def. Pannie Kianzad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Updated records: Rosa (18-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC), Kianzad (17-9 MMA, 5-6 UFC)
Key stats: The striking game was tight at 140-138 Rosa, but Rosa had a takedown and more than four minutes of control time on her way to the win.
“The original plan was actually to just feel her out in the first round and eventually take the fight to the ground. Taking the fight to the ground was the A plan. I knew that, watching tape, she didn’t really block any any of the calf kicks.”
“It was eight months between the last fight and this one, so I had a lot of time to work on many, many things. This time around, I was able to be myself. I was able to actually do what I wanted in there and have fun with the fight.”
“I would like to fight before the end of the year, maybe November-December, if they have room for me. Since Day 1, I said I’ll be champion. I believe in myself. I know that I have the talent and it’s a matter of time”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Stephanie Luciano avenged a draw Talita Alencar with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminarys at UFC on ESPN 61
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Stephanie Luciano[/autotag] beat Talita Alencar with a unanimous decision Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 61 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Luciano, who picked up a win in her UFC debut – and avenged a draw with Alencar on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Result: Stephanie Luciano def. Talita Alencar via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Updated records: Luciano (6-1-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Alencar (5-1-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Key stats: Luciano doubled up on Alencar in the striking department and stuffed nine of her 10 takedown attempts.
“I think it was unavoidable (to have a rematch with Alencar) – especially after what happened on the Contender Series. It was such a tough fight, and it ended up being a draw. She comes in with such strong jiu-jitsu, and I was able to display a lot of striking. I’m surprised (the rematch) was my debut in the UFC. I thought I had an impeccable performance. I thought it was great.”
“I’m very happy. This is the place where I want to be. To be in this organization and have such a great win, so technical, and it worked so well – it feels like a dream come true. It’s so incredible to actually live your dreams.”
“I had an expectation to fight three times this year, but I had a fight at the start of the year that was canceled. I do want to fight, and hopefully I can fight in December or even November.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
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Winning at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 61 was a must for Yana Santos.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Yana Santos[/autotag] felt she was fighting for her job at UFC on ESPN 61.
The women’s bantamweight veteran entered Saturday’s bout against Chelsea Chandler on a three-fight losing streak, with her last win coming in 2021. Santos (15-8 MMA, 5-5 UFC) believed a fourth consecutive defeat could’ve cost her her job with the UFC.
“It was probably career-saving because I had three losses, and you never know what the UFC is going to do,” Santos said. “It doesn’t matter if my opponent misses weight, doesn’t matter if I came after delivery, it’s my problem, I accepted the fight.
“If I decide to go to Russia after delivery and go and fight is my problem, and they have all the right to cut me if I have four losses. I feel this was career-saving.”
Santos defeated Chandler (6-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in a unanimous decision. Not only was the victory satisfying because she put an end to her losing streak, but also because Chandler had missed weight – something Santos didn’t take well.
Santos expected Chandler to use her perceived weight advantage in the bout, and was surprised it didn’t play a role in the fight.
“I felt her technique was so low in the part of wrestling,” Santos said. “What I was waiting is that she would be stronger and that she would put effort to put me down because that’s probably where she could use her weight, but it was pretty easy to defend the takedowns. It was a surprise for me because (the weight advantage) is important in wrestling and I thought it was going to use this.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Now 8-0 after his UFC on ESPN 61 win, Jhonata Diniz is determined to show he’s “ready to fight against the big names” at heavyweight.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jhonata Diniz[/autotag] wants matchmakers to find his equal in the heavyweight division after UFC on ESPN 61.
Diniz (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) added to his unblemished record Saturday when he earned a unanimous decision victory over Karl Williams (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at the UFC Apex. It was the first time in his career that he’d gone to the scorecards, and with that is valuable experience for the Brazilian.
“I’m so happy because I proved to everybody that I’m ready to fight against grappler, against striker,” Diniz told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight at UFC on ESPN 61. “I don’t care against who I fight. If you find someone tough enough to fight me for three rounds, I will hurt them for three rounds. It doesn’t matter.”
Diniz, 33, has proven to have heavy hands inside the cage, and now he knows he can throw them for 15 minutes. In his mind that warrants a step up in competition, and he thinks he’s ready for the some serious names in his weight class.
With two wins already under his belt in 2024, Diniz is looking for the hat trick. He would like to return at UFC 309, which is targeted to take place Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. It’s expected that heavyweight champ Jon Jones will defend against Stipe Miocic in the headliner of that card, and Diniz sees it as a prime opportunity to fight a contender-tier name and show where he stands.
“I think November will be a very good time for me to come back and fight,” Diniz said. “I know they have a big event with Jones and Miocic, and why not? I am ready to fight in New York. Against who? I don’t know. Who is the most dangerous guy in my division? Just bring this name for me. I want to prove to everybody that I’m ready to fight against the big names.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Danny Barlow was not bothered by the 30-27 scorecard favoring his opponent at UFC on ESPN 61.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Danny Barlow[/autotag] had a scary call on Saturday night.
The UFC welterweight was one scorecard away from losing to Nikolay Veretennikov, as his UFC on ESPN 61 bout ended in a split decision reading favoring him. However, many online thought Barlow (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) had a clear victory over Veretennikov (12-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) during their main card bout. But perhaps more interestingly, the scorecard favoring Veretennikov gave him all three rounds.
Although many online freaked out at the 30-27 scoring for Veretennikov, Barlow wasn’t sweating it.
“That’s what happens when you go to the decision,” Barlow told reporters at the UFC on ESPN 61 post-fight interview. “It’s out of my hands once it goes to decision. When I heard it, no, I wasn’t bothered by it. But yeah, it is what it is.
“Once the call got to the judges, I’ve seen some crazy things happen. So I just pretty much like, yeah, I felt like I won, so I wasn’t worried about it. But like I said, you’re going to have some judges that make those type of decisions.”
Outside the odd scoring, Barlow was happy with his performance and what he was able to display in the octagon. He did expect the fight to be more intense, but all in all, was happy with the win.
“It wasn’t a surprise because we definitely was prepared,” Barlow said regarding his performance. “We were prepared in the clinch, and I actually felt bigger than him in the clinch. He was a very big and strong guy, but that’s another thing I felt like we were successful in. Our gameplan was successful. I wasn’t really surprised by anything. … I expected him to be a beast, especially him coming off all those wins and finishing guys. I was expecting it to be more of a dog fight.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Toshiomi Kazama’s mental struggles prior to UFC on ESPN 61 only makes his thrilling comeback finish even more impressive.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Toshiomi Kazama[/autotag] knew he needed to win at UFC on ESPN 61 to save his future with the promotion, and he did just that with a Performance of the Night comeback win.
Just when it looked like Kazama (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was on the cusp of a third consecutive defeat to begin his octagon tenure against Charalampos Grigoriou (8-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, he staged a thrilling comeback to finish the fight by triangle choke in the second round of the bantamweight bout.
For Kazama, the joy of victory is overshadowed by the evaporation of stress, knowing that if he had lost, this could’ve been his final UFC fight.
“I feel relieved,” Kazama told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter post-fight at UFC on ESPN 61. “Of course, I’m happy, but I’m relieved. That’s a much more bigger feeling than being happy. … With all these losing fights, I felt like I was walking a dark cave for a while. In this fight, of course, the situation wasn’t that good. But still, I was able to win.”
After getting dropped and nearly finished by Grigoriou’s strikes, Kazama said he knew he had to keep his composure. He did just that, holding on and avoiding damage as best he could while his opponent tired himself out throwing strikes.
That’s when Kazama repositioned his legs and slapped on a triangle choke which forced Grigoriou to tap out. As a result, Kazama got his first UFC win in dramatic fashion, and the extra $50,000 bonus that came along with it.
“I heard all the voices from the cornerman, so I knew my opportunity would come,” Kazama said about the comeback. “Once that came, I wanted to finish him with my BJJ skills, and I was able to do that. So this was a very good win.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
Chris Gutierrez still has his eyes on Javid Basharat after their booking fell through for UFC on ESPN 61.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Chris Gutierrez[/autotag] is not going to forget about [autotag]Javid Basharat[/autotag] that easily.
The two were supposed to fight this past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 61, but Basharat (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) suffered an injury and was forced to pull out from the fight just days away from its scheduled date. So instead, Gutierrez (21-5-2 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) ended up fighting and defeating UFC newcomer Quang Le, who took the fight on short notice.
Now that the fight against Le is over, “El Guapo” wants to revisit the booking with Basharat.
“I have a jacked up foot right now, but I’d like to run it with Javid,” Gutierrez said at the UFC on ESPN 61 post-fight interview. “We were supposed to fight, and I know he got injured, so heal up quick, and let’s get back to running it.”
Gutierrez admits the last-minute change was not ideal, and it definitely threw him off a bit.
“I went through the motions of, ‘Damn, I was training for a completely different, specific fighter and then a completely different fighter steps up,'” Gutierrez said. “So yeah, you get nervous, but a part of you has to say, ‘This is who we are and this is what we do.’ I trust my training. I trust my coaches, and I trust what I’ve been training my mind and body to do. At some point you have to kind of turn your mind off and go off instincts.”
As far as the performance on Saturday, Gutierrez was happy to get his hand raised and get back in the win column, as he was coming off a loss to Song Yadong in December. However, he does think he could’ve been more clinical.
“I was looking for the definitive finish – knockout or submission,” Gutierrez said. “I didn’t get that done, but I still got the win, so I’d say a seven (out of 10).”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
