Tag Archives: UFC

UFC Fight Night 80: Namajunas vs. VanZant – Who’s Getting Paid?

Dec 7, 2015
McKinley Noble
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UFC Fight Night 80 may be an all-Fight Pass card, but it’s quietly become one of the most stacked MMA events of the year with plenty of great prospects in competitive, high-stakes bouts. It’s worth watching for Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant alone, but the whole main card (and a chunk of the preliminaries) is filled with pay-per-view caliber fights.

There’s many hype trains and winning streaks that could be derailed here, and depending on who’s victorious, a lot of contractual value is being put at risk for many fighters. Let’s look deeper into the details as we dive into the previous UFC fighter salaries and last Reebok sponsorship payouts for the main card talent.

Note: Divisional rankings via Fight Matrix. UFC salaries and Reebok figures via MMA Payout and MMA Junkie.

 

Rose Namajunas [#7 W115]
$25,000** [TUF 20 Finale]

Paige VanZant [#21 W115]
$26,500 = $12,000/$12,000 + $2,500* [UFC 191]

Analysis: Paige VanZant may be young, over-ranked in the UFC system, and benefiting from favorable match-making, but the buck stops here. While there’s not too much difference rankings-wise between Rose Namajunas and Joanne Calderwood [#8 W115] — PVZ’s original opponent — VanZant is running a much higher risk of a damaging stoppage loss in this short-notice switch.

Given that VanZant is one of the few fighters with an exclusive Reebok deal, a loss here (especially a one-sided beating) could hurt PVZ’s long term earning potential, too. At the very least, both women are on a similar level in disclosed pay, with the potential for a big jump in Reebok sponsorship money via title contention.

 

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UFC Fight Night 79: Henderson vs. Masvidal – Who’s Getting Paid?

Nov 25, 2015
McKinley Noble
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UFC Fight Night 79 may look like a smaller MMA card at a glance, but the main event is a blockbuster affair with some high stakes. Former UFC and WEC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson returns in a violence-assured contest against dangerous fellow-veteran Jorge Masvidal, as both men look to put together the start of a winning streak in the welterweight division.

Things aren’t quite that simple for Henderson, though. Sure, he’s racking up money and climbing that UFC/Reebok tenure ladder. But “Bendo” is also intent on wrapping up his UFC contract for a run at the MMA free agency market. That’s unusual for an elite guy like Henderson, but let’s look deeper into the details as we dive into the previous UFC fighter salaries and last Reebok sponsorship payouts for the main card talent.

Note: Divisional rankings via Fight Matrix. UFC salaries and Reebok figures via MMA Payout and MMA Junkie.

 

Benson Henderson [#16 WW]
$48,000** [UFC Fight Night 59]

Jorge Masvidal [#21 WW]
$102,000 = $51,000/$51,000 + $10,000* [TUF 21 Finale]

Analysis: If the numbers look skewed here, it’s worth noting that Bendo was making $110,000 in “show money” at his peak as UFC Lightweight Champion. Since disclosed pay is all we have to judge by, it seems Henderson’s suffered through a heck of a pay cut, and that’s along with whatever damage the Reebok deal has already done.

If that’s the case, it’s no wonder Henderson is thinking of taking his talents to Bellator, or perhaps ONE Championship. Even past his prime, it’s fair to guess the former UFC/WEC titleholder would be a decent draw and betting favorite against non-UFC 155-ers or 170-pounders.

 

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UFC 103 Trivia and Statistics

Sep 17, 2009
Jeremiah
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UFC 103 marks the first time that two Croatian born fighters have ever competed on the same UFC card.

Rich Franklin is fighting his second straight fight at a 195 pound catch weight. Franklin is the only fighter in UFC history to have more than one bout at this weight.

UFC 103 comes only 3 days after UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard and is the UFC’s second ever show in Texas. The fight card closest to another fight card in UFC history, UFC 69, came only 2 days after UFC Fight Night: Stevenson vs. Guillard and was the UFC’s first ever show in Texas.

UFC 103 will mark the first time since November 2006 that major MMA and boxing cards have competed with one another. UFC 65 with Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes sold 500,000 PPVs, compared to a Manny Pacquiao vs. Erik Morales fight that sold 350,000 PPVs.

Efrian Escudero fights Cole Miller for his first fight after winning The Ultimate Fighter season 8. Escudero has been on the sidelines for 9 months and 6 days since winning TUF, the second longest interval ever behind Amir Sadollah.

UFC 103 will be Rich Franklin’s third headlining fight this year, more than any other fighter in the UFC.

Of Tyson Griffin’s 15 professional fights, the first 8 were all finished inside the distance and the last 7 have all gone to decision.

Good news for both Griffin and his opponent, Hermes Franca. 5 of Griffin’s past 7 fights have earned Fight of the Night honors.

9 of Cole Miller’s 15 wins have come via choke (triangle, guillotine, or rear naked).

Junior Dos Santos has never had a fight reach the second round.

Victories over UFC Champions, Part II

Sep 9, 2009
Jeremiah
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In the first part of this post, found here, we examined which fighters had defeated the most UFC champions in their careers.  Such a list raises more questions than it answers.  One of the most natural questions to ask about such a list is “What happens if you account for Pride champions as well?”

The amended list is below.  A complete list of Pride champions can be found here.

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UFC 102 Trivia

Aug 27, 2009
Jeremiah
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MMA Trivia and Stats for UFC 102:

Demian Maia is the ninth ADCC Champion to fight in the UFC. He’s put those submission skills to work, as he is the only UFC fighter since Royce Gracie to win five fights in a row via submission. He is also the only fighter in UFC history to ever win five consecutive fights via choke.  

Nate Marquardt is fighting Demian Maia, a Brazilian BJJ black belt. Marquardt has only lost three fights in the last six years, all to Brazilian BJJ black belts.

Krzysztof Soszynski is coming off the very rare feat (for the present-day UFC) of fighting on two consecutive UFC events (UFC 97 and UFC 98)

Krzysztof Soszynski also remains the only Polish-born fighter ever to fight on a main card for the UFC. Tomasz Drwal has fought for the UFC three times but never on a main card.

Randy Couture enters the fight without a lengthy streak (one loss), which is normal for ‘The Natural’. He hasn’t had a winning streak or losing streak of more than two fights since 2001.

Portland is the first city in the Pacific Northwest to ever host a UFC.

With a win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture would move into a tie for first place on FightMatrix’s “Who has beaten the most UFC Champions?” list.

Keith Jardine has not won or lost multiple fights in a row since 2006.

Justin McCully has never lost a decision or been knocked out. All four of his losses have come by submission. His opponent, Mike Russow, has submitted six of his last seven opponents.

Marcus Aurelio has never been finished, despite seven losses. Of his seven losses, four were split decisions. His opponent, Evan Dunham, has won his last seven fights inside the distance.

 

Victories over UFC Champions, Part I

Aug 24, 2009
Jeremiah
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By virtue of being one of the first MMA organizations in the world and having an unbroken history that extends to their present day dominance, the title of ‘UFC Champion’ is arguably the most prestigious title that any fighter can hold.  ‘UFC Champion’ is by no means the only prestigious title an MMA champion may have won, but it is without a doubt the most consistently meaningful title in the history of our sport.  And if being a UFC champion is worth so much, what about victories over those champions?  Which fighters in MMA history have defeated the most members of this exclusive club?

To be clear, the criteria for ‘UFC Champion’ is as follows. Interim champions count. Early UFC tournament (Pre UFC 20) winners count as champions, and post UFC 20 tournament winners such as UFC Japan 2 and TUF tournament winners are not counted. Superfight winners count as champs. A win over a champion, future, present, past or at any point in their career counts. That’s the criteria used for this list.  I’ve included every fighter with three or more victories over different UFC champions.  For a list of all UFC Champions, see here.

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The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale review

Dec 10, 2007
oleg
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Greetings folks, thanks for reading the first ever FightMatrix.com event review!

 The broadcast starts off with Mike Goldberg and his partner – as always – Joe Rogan going over the scheduled card.  This smoothly segues into a seemingly endless World of Warcraft commercial that sets the tone for the whole night: During every commercial break, we are reminded by Mr. T or William Shatner about the joys of WoW.  Why is Blizzard investing so much into advertising a three-year old game?  Are they resting on their laurels? What happened to Diablo 3, anyway?  Oh yeah sorry, I am supposed to be reviewing the UFC here.  On to the first televised fight:

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