Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Victor Hugo ran his winning streak to 14 fights over 10 years with a decision over Pedro Falcao at UFC Fight Night 240.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] beat Pedro Falcao with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Hugo, who ran his winning streak to 14 over 10 years.
UFC Fight Night 240 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 240 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $162,500.
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 Fight Night 240 took place at the UFC Apex. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 240 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
* * * *
[autotag]Brendan Allen[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Chris Curtis[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Damon Jackson[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Alexander Hernandez[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Chepe Mariscal[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ignacio Bahamondes[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Christos Giagos[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Charlie Campbell[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Trevor Peek[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Alex Morono[/autotag]: $16,000
def. [autotag]Court McGee[/autotag]: $21,000
[autotag]Lukasz Brzeski[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Valter Walker[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Norma Dumont[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Germaine de Randamie[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Pedro Falcao[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jean Matsumoto[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dan Argueta[/autotag]: $4,500
[autotag]Cesar Almeida[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Dylan Budka[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Melissa Mullins[/autotag]: $4,000
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 2401 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 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Year-to-date total: $2,005,000
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $24,742,000
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Check out what the UFC Fight Night 240 winners and guest fighters had to say backstage at Saturday’s event.
LAS VEGAS – UFC Fight Night 240 took place Saturday with 12 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 240 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 240.
UFC Fight Night 240 was down a man, but the math is even once again as Pedro Falcao is set for his promotional debut.
[autotag]Pedro Falcao[/autotag] will make his UFC debut on three days’ notice Saturday in Las Vegas.
After [autotag]Heili Alateng[/autotag] fell ill days before UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex, Falcao (16-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was signed to fight fellow Brazilian [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC), the promotion announced Wednesday. MMA Mania was first to report the new booking.
Falcao, 31, is a member of Xtreme Couture, and he competed on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 when he finished James Barnes with ground-and-pound. Despite the win and finish, Falcao was not signed. After the fight, he went on a hiatus from MMA but remained active in other combat sports competition. In November, he returned at Tuff-N-Uff 134 and submitted UFC alum Leonardo Morales.
“(I) haven’t lost a fight since 2015,” Falcao told MMA Junkie for “On The Doorstep” in November. “I am always working to get better. I know I can not only compete, but win, at a high level in the UFC. I believe I can compete in the top 15 of the UFC right now.”
Hugo, 31, has won 13 fights in a row. He earned his UFC contract with a submission of Eduardo Matias Torres Caut in 2023. Hugo was expected to debut vs. Daniel Marcos in November, but the fight was canceled after he missed weight.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
Saturday’s UFC event is down a man – as the promotion seeks a replacement.
Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 240 is down a man.
With [autotag]Heili Alateng[/autotag] out due to illness, the promotion is seeking a replacement bantamweight to fight [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] on four days’ notice at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the withdrawal informed MMA Junkie of it Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Alateng (16-9-2 MMA, 4-2-1 UFC) most recently competed in October when he lost a unanimous decision to Chris Gutierrez. The defeat snapped a two-fight winning streak that included victories over Kevin Croom and Chad Anheliger.
Hugo (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has won 13 fights in a row. He earned his UFC contract with a submission of Eduardo Matias Torres Caut in 2023. Hugo was expected to debut vs. Daniel Marcos in November, but the fight was canceled after he missed weight.
With the change, the UFC Fight Night 240 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
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 Jan. 22-28.
The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo for the first time in nearly four years will go on with a couple fewer Brazilians than planned.
The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo for the first time in nearly four years will go on with a couple fewer Brazilians than planned.
Two UFC Fight Night 231 bouts were canceled Friday following the event’s official weigh-ins, where four fighters missed their marks on their first attempts. Ultimately, three missed weight – which led to a pair of cancellations, the UFC announced.
[autotag]Ismael Bonfim[/autotag] (19-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was set to open the main card against [autotag]Vinc Pichel[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at lightweight. Bonfim came in at 159.5 pounds and didn’t attempt to cut additional weight. Pichel missed on his first attempt, too, at 157 – but used his extra hour to get official at 155.5. After that, though, the fight was scrapped.
Bonfim, from Brazil, was set to fight a few bouts before his brother, Gabriel Bonfim, a welterweight who takes on Nicolas Dalby in the co-main event. Bonfim and Dalby each made weight.
On the prelims, Brazil’s [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] (24-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was set to make his UFC debut on less than three weeks’ notice against [autotag]Daniel Marcos[/autotag] (15-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC). Marcos was 136 pounds, but Hugo came in at 138.5. He didn’t attempt to cut additional weight, and the bantamweight bout was scrapped after the weigh-ins.
With the changes, the UFC Fight Night 231 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 231.
Find out who joined the UFC in October and learn more about them here.
The UFC roster is bigger than ever – and it continues to expand.
Fresh faces appear on nearly every card, whether onboarded as short-notice opening fillers, “Dana White’s Contender Series” signees, or rare straight-up additions. Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the hustle and bustle of the mixed martial arts news beat, but here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got you covered.
“Fresh Ink” is your list of fighters added to the UFC roster the previous month and provides background on who they are and where they came from.
Check out the October 2023 list below.
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 the promotions from Oct. 9-15.
Victor Hugo wants to jump in the deep end of the bantamweight division after winning a UFC contract at DWCS 65.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Victor Hugo[/autotag] is not looking to waste any time after earning a UFC contract at Dana White’s Contender Series 65.
Hugo (24-4) submitted Eduardo Torres Caut (17-2) with a second-round kneebar on Tuesday at the UFC Apex, impressing company CEO to the point of offering him a deal with the organization.
After punching his ticket to the UFC, the Brazilian veteran wants to tackle the upper echelon of the stacked bantamweight division right off the bat.
“If it was for me, my next fight would be against a top 10, top five,” Hugo told MMA Junkie and other reportrs through an interpreter at the DWCS 65 post-fight press conference. “I don’t give a damn. I’m ready.”
Hugo’s confidence comes from his experience. The 30-year-old already has 28 professional fights under his belt, and his emotional reaction after his finish was a culmination of years of hard work. It’s been a long road, but now he finally has his opportunity on the big stage.
“I went through nine, 10, 11 – dude I even lost count of how many people I had to beat up to actually get here,” Hugo said. “So, if I needed to beat someone else up tonight to get this contract, I would have done that. That’s what I meant. I’ve gone through a bunch of people. If one more, I’ll do it.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 65.
