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The two title matches for Saturday night’s UFC 239 are Amanda Nunes versus Holly Holm in the women’s bantamweight and Jon Jones versus Thiago Santos in the men’s light heavyweight. It’s a double Brazil-USA tilt, as Nunes and Santos both hail from the former, while Holm and Jones are both Americans.
Each of the fighter’s guaranteed payouts for the evening have already been revealed. According to CBS Sports, Jones will receive $500,000, while Santos will walk away with $350,000 no matter what.
Nunes has a chance to match Jones’ prize winnings, as she is guaranteed $300,000, but will earn an extra $200,000 with a title victory. Holm will pocket $300,000.
MMA Junkie presents the rest of the payouts for each of the previous bouts at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The site points out the these don’t account for TV ratings bonuses, under the table payments and other undetermined compensations.
- Ben Askren ($210,000; $160,000 win bonus) vs. Jorge Masvidal ($100,000; $100,000 win bonus)
- Jan Blachowicz ($46,000; $46,000 win bonus) vs. Luke Rockhold ($200,000; $150,000 win bonus)
- Michael Chiesa ($52,000; $52,000 win bonus) vs. Diego Sanchez ($103,000; $103,000 win bonus)
- Arnold Allen ($32,000; $32,000 win bonus) vs. Gilbert Melendez ($200,000; no win bonus)
- Nohelin Hernandez ($12,000; $12,000 win bonus) vs. Marlon Vera ($48,000; $48,000 win bonus)
- Claudia Gadelha ($51,000; $51,000 win bonus) vs. Randa Markos ($30,000; $30,000 win bonus)
- Alejandro Perez ($42,000; $42,000 win bonus) vs. Song Yadong ($45,000; $45,000 win bonus)
- Jack Marshman ($30,000; $30,000 win bonus) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan ($16,000; $16,000 win bonus)
- Ismail Naurdiev ($14,000; $14,000 win bonus) vs. Chance Rencountre ($14,000; $14,000 win bonus)
- Julia Avila ($10,000; $10,000 win bonus) vs. Pannie Kianzad($12,000; $12,000 win bonus)
Stay tuned for the highlights from Nunes/Holm, plus Jones/Santos once that is concluded.
Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm Results
Nunes knocked out Holm with just 50 seconds left in the first round. It was a technical knockout after Nunes tagged Holm with a head kick. This improved the Brazilian’s record to 18-4, while Holm falls to 12-5.
Holm tried to show patience, only throwing 17 strikes while landing 14. Nunes started getting aggressive midway through the round, ending up with 17 landed strikes after 36 attempts.
Holm was considered the superior fighter standing up, so when she avoided a Nunes takedown attempt in the middle of the round, the Vegas crowd started to sense an upset brewing. Nunes silenced that murmuring with the round-ending head kick.
This is Nunes’ sixth straight title defense. She originally won the belt by submission against Miesha Tate in July 2016.
Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos Results
Jones won the light heavyweight belt after a split decision victory (48-47, 47-48, 48-47). He improved to 25-1, while Santos fell to 21-7.
After the previous two fights ended in first-round knockouts, Jones/Santos went the distance. Jones bided his time, allowing Santos the opportunity to build an early lead and advantage in landed strikes.
At some point, Santos looked to have injured his knee. UFC commentator Joe Rogan mentioned that it could’ve been an ACL injury, but Santos was able to maintain his balance for the rest of the match. The Brazilian briefly hit the mat in the third round after an elbow, but quickly regained his footing.
Jones took advantage, coming back to end up with the higher accuracy and amount of landed strikes (57-of-105 versus 49-of-167 for Santos). However, the fact that Jones couldn’t take advantage with a knockout had some thinking Santos provided the better performance.
However, even if Jones didn’t take full advantage, he was able to score enough points to edge his foe tonight.
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