The octagon is at Bell Arena in Denver, Colorado for tonight’s UFC on ESPN: Namajunas vs. Cortez fight card. The event is headlined by a women’s flyweight bout between former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas and Tracy Cortez.
Namajunas (12-6) enters the fight ranked sixth in the women’s 125-pound weight class. Cortez (11-1) will enter the octagon ranked 11th and riding an 11-fight winning streak.
UFC Start Times:
Main Card begins at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+
Preliminary Card begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+
UFC Denver: Namajunas vs. Cortez Results and Analytics
Luana Santos | Photo by Al Powers/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Luana Santos isn’t overlooking Mariya Agapova, but is more than confident she can get the job done with a finish at UFC Denver on Saturday.
Santos returns to the flyweight division after a health condition caused a massive weight miss in her fight this past December and she likes the challenges Agapova presents given their clash of styles. Santos, 2-0 in the UFC, sees multiple ways to finish Agapova.
“I saw that she was submitted in her past two fights [against Maryna Moroz and Gillian Robertson], so given my grappling background, it’s a good matchup for me,” Santos said. “She has dangerous hands, her boxing is very dangerous. She comes in fast for the knockout so I have to be careful with her hands, but I’ve trained a lot for this fight.”
Santos said she had a longer training camp than normal after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, a condition that causes weight gain. The condition is now under control and the extra time between fights has allowed Santos to evolve in multiple aspects of the game.
“I had 16 weeks to prepare for this match based on what to expect in there,” Santos said. “I have weapons to beat her on the feet and also submit her. I trained my striking very hard and I have what it takes to knock her out. I can submit her too. We’ll see how the fight plays out, but my feeling is that there’s a submission coming.”
Santos knocked out Juliana Miller in the first round in her octagon debut and then defeated Stephanie Egger via unanimous decision in her follow-up bout.
“I was very disappointed when I left that [Egger] fight because I could have won in a different way, I could have done more, but then I re-watched the fight and it kind of changed my mind,” Santos said. “I was doing well in the fight, the first round was good and so was the beginning of the second, but then I got tired. I only had three weeks to prepare, I wasn’t even training, and cut 22 pounds in a short period of time and still missed weight.
“I reflected on it and it’s all good. I missed weight, but saved a fight that wasn’t going to happen, so let’s look at the bright side. I thought the fight was shit, that I could have won better, but I did the best I could under those circumstances. I did what I could and came out with the win. It could have been way worse, I could have lost, but that’s not what happened. I came back and finished what was wrong. This time, I’m going for the win, regardless of being a knockout, a submission, or by points. I want to put on a good fight and a great performance.”
UFC Denver headliner Rose Namajunas when she fought Amanda Ribas in the UFC APEX. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
UFC Denver goes down on ESPN tonight (Sat., July 13, 2024) with Rose Namajunas taking on Tracey Cortez in the re-worked main event. Checkout all the action here!
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is in Mile High City this weekend (Sat., June 15, 2024) with UFC Denver mixed martial arts (MMA) event. The event will be streamed LIVE on ESPN and ESPN+. The main event sees former UFC champion Rose Namajunas taking on late replacement, Tracy Cortez, in the Flyweight division. I hope the local fans got a good deal on tickets for this one because there aren’t any household names beyond the former two-time women’s Strawweight champion. Indeed, UFC Denver’s co-main is Santiago Ponzinibbioversus Muslim Salikhovat Welterweight, while Drew Dober locks horns with “Fighting Nerd” Jean Silva(who flattened Charles Jourdain two weeks ago at UFC 303) one fight prior.
The “Prelims” card is headlined by Joshua Van vs. Charles Johnson in the Flyweight division. This portion of the card also has Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Fatima Kline (another late replacement).
Former champ Rose Namajunas headlines UFC Denver.
UFC DENVER START TIME, DATE
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Denver card below, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card (also on ESPN/ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET. You can bet on all the UFC Denver action with our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook right here.
Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps, and post-fight analysis following “Namajunas vs. Cortez”. Without further delay, see below for the updated UFC Denver results. (Note: This will go from the top down; therefore, look to the top of the stream for the newest update).
UFC DENVER ‘NAMAJUNAS VS. CORTEZ’ QUICK RESULTS
125 lbs.: Rose Namajunas vs. Tracy Cortez 170 lbs.: Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov 155 lbs.: Drew Dober vs. Jean Silva 170 lbs.: Gabriel Bonfim vs. Ange Loosa 145 lbs.: Julian Erosa vs. Christian Rodriguez 185 lbs: Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cody Brundage 125 lbs.: Joshua Van vs. Charles Johnson 125 lbs.: Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Fatima Kline 135 lbs.: Montel Jackson vs. Da’Mon Blackshear 125 lbs.: Luana Santos vs. Mariya Agapova 185 lbs.: Josh Fremd vs. Andre Petroski 170 lbs.: Evan Elder vs. Darius Flowers
UFC DENVER ‘NAMAJUNAS VS. CORTEZ’ PLAY-BY-PLAY
Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty ImagesThe Ball Arena hosts UFC Denver.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Denver news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
Gabriel Bonfim | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Gabriel Bonfim and his brother Ismael Bonfim decided to leave Cerrado MMA in Brasilia after spending almost their entire careers inside those walls. Now they feel reinvented.
Ismael got the job done in his first fight since opening their own team, Bonfim Brothers, beating Vinc Pichel at UFC 301 in May. Now it’s time for Gabriel to put the changes to the test when he battles Ange Loosa at UFC Denver on Saturday.
“We switched teams and a lot has changed in our lives,” Bonfim told MMA Fighting. “This training camp was the best I’ve ever had, and I’m not saying that only because I’m about to fight now. It was my best camp ever in terms of training, technique, conditioning, everything.”
Bonfim was knocked out by veteran Nicolas Dalby his most recent octagon appearance at UFC Sao Paulo in November 2023, and said his preparation for that match wasn’t ideal, which is one of the reasons he decided to part ways with Cerrado MMA.
“I didn’t do the camp that had to be done,” Bonfim said. “I was being kind of forced to the gym basically, and now we have our own team. I feel the desire to work now, and that’s how I feel every single day of my life. I feel good being and training where I am.”
Despite the split from his longtime team, the welterweight talent said he’s thankful for everything he experienced in his previous home.
“It’s like marriage, and sometimes the relationship doesn’t work anymore, things start to go wrong,” Bonfim said. “There are two sides of the coin. Our side wasn’t happy, and I believe they weren’t as well at Cerrado MMA. We’re grateful to them for everything they’ve done for us, but it reached a point where it wasn’t working anymore.”
The Dalby defeat was Bonfim’s final bout representing Cerrado MMA. The loss dropped his record to 15-1 and forced a change in his fighting mindset.
“I learned [with that loss] that I had to mature,” Bonfim said. “God knows of all things, and I believe that had to be part of my life. Suffering that loss — but still putting on a good fight, getting a Fight of the Night bonus — I needed that loss to mature and focus [so] that I’m a professional. I needed that lesson.”
Bonfim is on a mission Saturday in Denver to snap Loosa’s three-fight unbeaten steak.
“I’m ready for all areas,” said Bonfim, who has ended all 15 of his professional wins with submissions (12) or knockouts (3). “My strategy is to fight wherever we go and beat him no matter what. I believe I’m getting the finish, either a knockout or a submission. I’m a dangerous man and I capitalize on every opportunity. I’ll catch and finish him the moment he makes a mistake.”
As he continues to push for a seat in the White House, Joe Biden’s leadership qualities have been brought into question by many. Among those is UFC owner Ari Emanuel.
Emanuel currently serves as the CEO of Endeavor, a media agency that owns both the UFC and WWE respectively. Fans are finally starting to see signs of the two titan promotions working together since their groundbreaking merger last year.
When he’s not playing a huge role in the world of sports and entertainment, Ari Emanuel is giving his opinion on the constant rollercoaster that is American politics. Emanuel recently joined a group of global celebrities in advising Joe Biden to step away from the presidential race. Among those celebrities is George Clooney, Stephen King, John Cusak, Rob Reiner, Michael Moore, Reed Hastings (Netflix co-founder), and Ashley Judd.
Alongside the well-known celebrities, Emanuel is also calling for change in the Democratic Party. The Endeavor CEO believes that a younger, more relatable candidate can refresh the Democrats and allow them to better compete with their Republican counterpart.
Besides Hollywood making their voices known, an internal struggle is taking place between the Democrats. News surfaced that major donor’s to a pro-Biden super PAC are withholding an astronomical $ 90M unless Joe Biden leaves the race. [h/t New York Times]
Ari Emanuel recently shared his opinion on why it may be time for Joe Biden to step aside.
“He said he was going to run for one term, and he’s doing it to restore democracy,” Emanuel said at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
“He then runs for a second term — that’s his first bit of malarkey, as he would say. He and his coherts have told us that he’s [been] healthy for over a year.”
Related: Tito Ortiz unloads on FOX News – ‘I lost everything’
Ari Emanuel has long been tied into the world of politics through his brothers.
One brother, Ezekiel Emanuel, played a significant role in the development of the Affordable Care Act under Barack Obama.
Rahm Emanuel is another brother of Ari who coincidentally also worked with Barack Obama. Rahm served as the White House Chief of staff under Obama before later serving as the Mayor of Chicago.
Given his ties in politics, Ari Emanuel joining several Hollywood celebrities could be a key moment in the future of the Democratic Party.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Given the star power and attention she received while fighting, it’s almost impossible to comprehend that Ronda Rousey’s entire UFC career actually lasted less than four years.
During that span, Rousey fought eight times, defended her UFC title six times, and became one of the biggest stars in the history of the sport. Rousey was so busy being the face of women’s MMA that UFC CEO Dana White believes it actually cost her when it came time to evolve as a fighter.
“While she was doing what she was doing, building the sport and the UFC and women, all these other women were training to beat her,” White said back in June. “She had taken so much on her shoulders at the time, it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as a fighter during that period.”
Reacting to White’s comments, Rousey said she tried put the sport on her back upon first arriving in the UFC, but also knows those choices were her own.
Rousey said she told White specifically that she’d do everything in her power to prove him right after becomig the catalyst that ushered women into UFC for the first time.
“I had to be everything to everyone,” Rousey told CBS Sports. “I had to promote as hard as I trained, and because I did that, that’s why we got as far as we are today. I didn’t just make it about me and my performances and picking and choosing my fights, about when it would work best for me. That’s why we were so successful. That’s why the sport had never been hotter. It was because of that work.
“I promised Dana that’s what I would do if he believed in me and invested in me and brought me into the company. I felt like if I did anything less, that would have made me a liar.”
Beyond her duties promoting and fighting whenever UFC asked, Rousey has said she was also dealing with lingering effects of concussions suffered throughout her athletic career. Since retiring from UFC and putting her pro wrestling career on hold, Rousey revealed for the first time that repeated concussions played a big part in her decision to stop fighting.
Her concussion history also played into why Rousey never mentioned the subject after her final UFC fight against Amanda Nunes in 2016, because she was already plotting for a future in WWE. Once fighting and wrestling were done, Rousey finally spoke out about her concussion history, which started when she was involved with swimming as a child.
“If the concussions weren’t an issue, things would have happened completely differently [in my fight career],” Rousey said. “Cumulative neurological injury is something people just don’t talk about in MMA, which is also something everybody is dealing with at a different pace. I started dealing with it at 6 years old, I started getting concussions.”
Even if she didn’t have plans for pro wrestling after her MMA career was done, Rousey suspects she probably still wouldn’t have addressed her struggles while still active in UFC.
“As a fighter, you’re not supposed to show any weakness or talk about things like that or the inevitable neurological decline that comes with taking head shots,” Rousey said. “A lot of people talk about it as if it’s making excuses or weakness or things like that, but I have the whole rest of my life to think about. You never know when you take one hit too many until many decades later, but also, I don’t think that I would be serving the sport or the division in the right way if I had stuck around too long. I got to a point where I knew that I could literally not be taking those head impacts and continue to compete at that same level.
“It doesn’t do the sport any favors. It’s a bad look on women’s MMA in general and I am the representative of that sport. You see that happen to a lot of fighters as they age, and it takes less and less and less to be able to hurt them and for them to get knocked out. And it’s not just them losing matches — those are their brains getting injured, that is going to hurt them later on in their life and they end up getting punch drunk or slurring or they’re in wheelchairs and all this stuff. Nobody talks about it.”
Now that she’s been such an open book with her own concussion history, Rousey hopes more fighters acknowledge the struggles they’ve faced with similar issues.
“I wish that more people would [address it] because the longevity of our fighters is at stake,” Rousey said. “I want all of these fighters to be able to get old gracefully and be able to hold their grandkids and not to be another of those cautionary tales.”
Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images
File under: Mmaweekly.com | Leave a comment »