Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”
Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.
On Episode 3,457, the guys bring on UFC women’s strawweight [autotag]Vanessa Demopoulos[/autotag], who fights Emily Ducote next month in Las Vegas. They also discussed the latest news, including Jones Jones’ return, Justin Gaethje, BKFC, Jose Aldo and much more. Tune in!
Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC, PFL, and Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Feb. 5-11.
An exciting strawweight bout between Vanessa Demopoulos and Emily Ducote is heading for a UFC Fight Night event in May.
The UFC is filling out its May slate of fights, and has added a fun strawweight matchup to the mix.
At a UFC Fight Night event on May 18, Vanessa Demopoulos will take on Emily Ducote. The event does not yet have a confirmed location or venue, but MMA Junkie has confirmed with two sources that contracts have been signed by both fighters.
Demopoulos (10-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) will look to keep her winning momentum going after a unanimous decision win over Kanako Murata in October. The result marked a return to the win column after a unanimous decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz, which snapped a three-fight winning streak over Silvana Gomez Juarez, Jinh Yu Frey and Maria Oliveira.
Ducote (13-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC) also enters the contest on the heels of victory. “Gordinha” secured a unanimous decision win in October against Ashley Yoder, returning to .500 in her four-fight UFC tenure. A pair of setbacks against Angela Hill and Lupita Godinez followed a debut victory over Jessica Penne.
No other bouts for the May 18 event have been confirmed at this time.
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Vanessa Demopoulos won for the fourth time in five fights at UFC Fight Night 229 and wants a spot in the top 15 rankings.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Vanessa Demopoulos[/autotag] beat Kanako Murata with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 229 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Demopoulos, who won for the fourth time in five fights.
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 229, which saw Drew Dober pass Dustin Poirier on the all-time lightweight KO list.
The UFC returned from a one-week hiatus on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 229, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw four of 10 fights end in a stoppage.
The quickest of those finishes came in the lightweight headliner, where Bobby Green (31-15-1 MMA, 12-9-1 UFC) pulled off a stunning upset of Grant Dawson (20-2-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) courtesy of a 33-second knockout.
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 Fight Night 229.
UFC Fight Night 229 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 229 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $189,000.
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 Fight Night 229 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 229 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Joe Pyfer[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $16,000
[autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Drew Dober[/autotag]: $21,000
def. [autotag]Ricky Glenn[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Bill Algeo[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Hernandez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Karolina Kowalkiewicz[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Nate Maness[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Mateus Mendonca[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Vanessa Demopoulos[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Kanako Murata[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Aori Qileng[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Johnny Munoz[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]JJ Aldrich[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Montana De La Rosa[/autotag]: $11,000
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 2291 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 $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
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 2023 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $6,483,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $21,072,500
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 229 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 229 took place Saturday with 11 bouts on the lineup. We’ve got you covered with backstage winner interviews from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
You can hear from all the UFC Fight Night 229 winners by checking out their post-fight news conferences below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 229.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from July 17-23
Oftentimes, fighters lay into their opponents for missing weight. That’s not the case with Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Vanessa Demopoulos.
LAS VEGAS – Oftentimes, fighters lay into their opponents for missing weight.
Following her UFC Fight Night 224 win, [autotag]Karolina Kowalkiewicz[/autotag] took a different route when asked about opponent [autotag]Vanessa Demopoulos[/autotag]’ botched weigh-in Friday ahead of their fight.
“Sometimes it happens,” Kowalkiewicz told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “I don’t know why she didn’t make weight. But if the doctors said she cannot cut weight anymore, OK. The health is the most important. So OK, for me it is not a problem.”
Kowalkiewicz (15-7 MMA, 8-7 UFC) went 15 minutes with Demopoulos (9-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) before she was awarded a unanimous decision victory, her third win in a row. Kowalkiewicz said she didn’t feel a noticeable weight or strength difference from Demopoulos, who weighed 1.5 pounds over the strawweight limit.
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As for what’s next, Kowalkiewicz didn’t have an opponent or date on her mind. All she wants is to return relatively soon – and have fans in the building when she does.
“I need to talk with my coach,” Kowalkiewicz said. “If he agrees with me, I want to fight as soon as possible. I need two weeks of vacation because I want to go to my family, to Poland. I need to rest a little bit. I’ll go back to ATT to train again and start preparing for my next fight. … Any open arena event. … I love fans, yeah. We fight for fans, so fighting in big arena is the best feeling in the world. ”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC Fight Night 224, which saw Mackenzie Dern rack up another $50,000 bonus in the main event.
The UFC closed out its May schedule on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 224, which took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
In the main event, [autotag]Mackenzie Dern[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) defeated [autotag]Angela Hill[/autotag] (15-13 MMA, 10-13 UFC) by unanimous decision in the Fight of the Night, with the grappling specialist landing a career-best 126 significant strikes over the course of five rounds.
For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts about UFC Fight Night 224.
