Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The UFC Fight Night 235 lineup Feb. 3 has faced multiple changes in recent days, putting the matchmakers to work early in 2024.
The UFC’s 2024 schedule hasn’t even begun, but that doesn’t mean the matchmakers aren’t having to make some repairs already.
UFC Fight Night 235, which is slated for Feb. 3 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by Roman Dolidze vs. Nassourdine Imavov, has encountered a pair of withdrawals recently.
Check out the changes and full UFC Fight Night 235 lineup below:
All the UFC 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.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Dec. 4-10.
Check out all the facts from UFC Fight Night 226, such as Rose Namajunas being on the first true losing skid of her career.
The UFC’s second trip to Paris was another significant event for French MMA with UFC Fight Night 226 going down Saturday at Accor Arena.
Multiple French fighters on the card thrived, but none more than former interim UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC, who thrived in the main event with a second-round TKO of [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) to rebound from his loss against Jon Jones earlier this year.
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 226.
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UFC Fight Night 226 fighters took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, a program that continued after the UFC’s deal with Venum.
PARIS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $128,500.
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 226 took place at the Accor Arena in France. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 226 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
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[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Manon Fiorot[/autotag]: $6,000
def. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Thiago Moises[/autotag]: $11,000
[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag]: $11,000
def. [autotag]Bogdan Guskov[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Yanis Ghemmouri[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Morgan Charriere[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Manolo Zecchini[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag]: $4,500
def. [autotag]Caolan Loughran[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Ange Loosa[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Rhys McKee[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Nora Cornolle[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag]: $6,000
[autotag]Farid Basharat[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Kleydson Rodrigues[/autotag]: $4,000
[autotag]Jacqueline Cavalcanti[/autotag]: $4,000
def. [autotag]Zarah Fairn[/autotag]: $4,500
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 2261 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: $5,735,500
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $20,324,500
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
Check out these photos highlighting William Gomis’ TKO win over Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC Fight Night 226.
Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]’ TKO win over Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC Fight Night 226 from Accor Arena in Paris. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
William Gomis’ win over Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC Paris had an utterly bizarre ending that sparked controversy from the MMA community.
PARIS – [autotag]William Gomis[/autotag] got his first UFC finish, but it didn’t come without controversy.
After two rounds of a technical kickboxing-like match in their featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 226 on Saturday at Accor Arena, Gomis (13-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) landed a body kick on [autotag]Yanis Ghemmouri[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in Round 3.
Ghemmouri, who was visibly in pain, reacted as though it landed low, but the referee deemed it a legal body kick. When Ghemmouri turned around and didn’t continue fighting, the referee waived the fight off for a TKO win for Gomis at the 2:20 mark of Round 3.
Check out the replay of Gomis’ finish below, which drew boos from the crowd (via Twitter):
William Gomis wins by TKO following this kick #UFCParis pic.twitter.com/o2dsRMl8qX
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 2, 2023
The referee’s decision turned out to be pretty controversial among those in the MMA community, who aired grievances on social media in the minutes that followed.
William Gomis not only has been accustomed to winning, he’s been accustomed to finishing his opponents.
PARIS – [autotag]William Gomis[/autotag] not only has been accustomed to winning, he’s been accustomed to finishing his opponents.
Before he came to the UFC, Gomis was on an eight-fight winning streak with six stoppages. But in his promotional debut in Paris in front of his home fans a year ago, he had to settle for a majority decision win. His next time out in April, he missed weight, then took a split call from Francis Marshall.
Now Gomis (12-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is hoping he can get back to finishing people when he meets fellow French fighter Yanis Ghemmouri (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on Saturday.
Gomis talked about that and more at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 226 media day in Paris.
Check out the full interview in the video above. UFC Fight Night 226 takes place Saturday at Accor Arena and is the UFC’s second visit to France. The event streams on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
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UFC Fight Night 226 will remain intact in Paris after a shuffle in the lineup.
UFC Fight Night 226 will remain mostly intact after a shuffle in the lineup.
After Lucas Almeida and Muin Gafurov were forced out of their respective bouts, [autotag]William Gomis[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and [autotag]Taylor Lapilus[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) were in need of new opponents.
The UFC switched the lineup and booked Gomis in a featherweight bout against [autotag]Yanis Ghemmouri[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who was originally scheduled to face Cage Warriors champion [autotag]Caolan Loughran[/autotag] (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC). Lapilus will now face Loughran.
Two people with knowledge of the changes confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by The AB Show.
UFC Fight Night 226 takes place Saturday at Accor Arena in Paris. The event streams on ESPN+.
The UFC Fight Night 226 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, noon ET)
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
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 3-9.
William Gomis says Franklin Marshall’s chokes were tight, but there was no way he was tapping.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]William Gomis[/autotag]’s determination to leave victorious in his return to the octagon was high, to say the least.
The UFC featherweight defeated Francis Marshall by split decision at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 222 preliminary card at the UFC Apex. That result was put in jeopardy in the final seconds of the fight, as Marshall (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) attempted two chokes on Gomis (12-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) that appeared very tight.
Gomis was able to escape from both, but he says they came close to putting him out.
“My God, the first thing I thought was, ‘I’m dying,'” Gomis told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 222 post-fight press conference. “I can’t give up. That’s my mentality. I prefer to die. I told myself, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go.'”
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Gomis doesn’t think the fight went exactly as planned, but he is happy with the end result, which put him on a 10-fight winning streak.
“Good performance, it was an easy win,” Gomis said. “I had a good plan with my coach, and the plan didn’t work in the third round. The third round was very hard, but it worked.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 222.
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