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UFC 106 Fighter Salaries

Mike Honcho — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:55:43 +0000

he Nevada State Athletic Commission has just released the salaries for all of the fighters that competed in this weekend’s UFC 106 event inside the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas.

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $1,021,000, however does not include the Fight Bonuses awarded to three lucky contestants, specifically welterweight Josh Koscheck, who took home Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night honors.

Here are the UFC 105 paydays:

Forrest Griffin: $250,000 ($150,000 win bonus) def. Tito Ortiz: $250,000

Josh Koscheck: $106,000* ($53,000 win bonus) def. Anthony Johnson: $17,000^

Paulo Thiago: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Jacob Volkmann: $6,000

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $100,000 ($30,000 win bonus) def. Luiz Cane: $19,000#

Amir Sadollah: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus) def. Phil Baroni: $25,000

Ben Saunders: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Marcus Davis: $27,000

Kendall Grove: $44,000 ($22,000 win bonus) def. Jake Rosholt: $15,000

Brian Foster: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)def. Brock Larson: $26,000

Caol Uno: $20,000 and Fabricio Camoes: $10,000 – Majority Draw earns no Win Bonus

George Sotiropoulos: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)def. Jason Dent: $8,000

^ – Fight of the Night:
Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson ($70,000/each)

# – Knockout of the Night:
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira ($70,000)

* – Submission of the Night:
Josh Koscheck ($70,000)

Rumor Mill: Nogueria vs Cain Velasquez at UFC 108

Mike Honcho — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:42:15 +0000

With the Ultimate Fighting Championship in desperate need of securing a main event match-up due to the health of current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar the organization has made another interesting fight as Antonio ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira (32-5-1) and Cain Velasquez (7-0) will be meeting at UFC 108 on January 2, 2010 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sources close to Fightburger.com have been told that; Nogueira’s manager Ed Soares confirmed the fight and that his client will be facing the undefeated heavyweight contender.

However, Heavy.com reports they have spoken to a source within the UFC saying the bout is yet to be finalized although it is in the works.

Should the contest take place at UFC 108 it will in fact be the toughest test to date for Cain Velasquez as Nogueira is very well versed in all aspects of the fight game with dangerous Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and good stand-up striking as well, but Velasquez is very hungry and will be just as tough a test for Nogueira as well with his punishing ground and pound style.

Most likely the winner of this potential bout will be receiving a shot at the UFC heavyweight championship as Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin will still either have their title fight take place at UFC 108 or at UFC 109 in early February.

UFC About To Lose Henderson? (UPDATED)

DBALL — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:26:55 +0000

The UFC’s middle weight division is close to losing two times Pride FC Champion Dan Henderson to Strikeforce as the long drawn out contract negotiation reach a stalemate.

Kevin Iole is reporting that Strikeforce “is on the verge” of signing Dan Henderson and has quoted The UFC president Dana White as saying he is “disappointed to lose Henderson” and that “he was confident the UFC would be able to recover.”

While most in the MMA universe would be disappointed that the Henderson, Marquardt, Belfort and Silva log jam won’t been played out in full, pleasure can be taken in the fact that Hendo who is 39 and in the twighlight years of his mma career will have great matchups if he signs with Strikeforce who are growing their stable with qaulity fighters.

(UPDATE)

The likelihood of Dan Henderson moving on from the UFC due to contracts disagreements with the UFC is at a all time high. Dana White, the ultimate fighting championship president gave a very frank and honest picture of the situation in an interview with MMA FIX.

Dana White:

We couldn’t come to terms with Dan Henderson… Business, nothing personal with Dan, I have a great relationship with him… but he was looking for an obscene amount of money. You never know what’s gonna happen, we’ll see what happens, but as of now, yeah, negotiations are done.

Watch Dana White Cheers On His Cousin At Tuff N Uff Fights on RawVegas.tv

Stay hooked to fightburger.com for MMA news with taste!

Who Are The Future Stars Of Mixed Martial Arts? (Part One)

DBALL — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:44:54 +0000

A top level mixed martial artist can be compared to the dominant lion of a pride. Given a title or a reputation to protect, other fighters will soon appear out of the jungle to challenge them.

As in the animal kingdom, every fighter must face the reality that they can only be dominant for a certain number of years before a younger, fitter and hungrier fighter comes along. At any given time, there are a number of fighters who at one time were the dominant fighters of their weight divisions, but who are now facing the end of their reign.

The most recent fight demonstrating this was at UFC 103, in the fight between Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos. Back in 2005 Cro Cop was arguably the most dominate heavy weight behind Fedor Emelianenko. His display of striking prowess won him the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix in a remarkable fashion. But against Dos Santos in 2009, Cro Cop was unable to execute any of his powerful kicks let alone any punches. Dos Santos, a fresh fighter was able to do all the right things to show the world he could be the next dominant heavy weight fighter.

This idea of young fighters beating once dominant, established fighters got us thinking – who are the next litter of up and coming fighters? Well Fight Burger has given this some thought, these are our picks:

Welter Weight

Based in Seattle, Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm is tipped by Fight Burger to go on to do great things. The former meth addict who was sent to prison for his indiscretions spent his time watching The Ultimate fighter on Spike TV and fell in love with the sport of mixed martial arts. Spending only 23 months learning about mixed martial arts before making his professional debut in April 2007, Beerbohm has developed an outstanding record of 13 consecutive victories. The 170 pounder has appeared in promotions such as King of the Cage, Exlite XC and Strike Force.

Middle Weight

Hector Lombard (22-2-1) has been in the martial arts business for a while. He competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics games for the Cuban judo team. As a result of his time in Sydney, Lombard now calls Australia home. Representing Australia in the mixed martial arts world, Lombard has constantly showcased his talent by annihilating the majority of his opponents on his way to becoming five times CFC (Cage Fighting Championships) Middleweight Champion and the first ever Bellator Middleweight Champion. Hector has also competed twice in the Pride Bushido series, unfortunately he lost both times to decision to tough opponents: Akihiro Gono and the current Stikeforce Light Heavy Weight Champion Gegard Mousasi. Make no mistake ladies and gentlemen, Hector Lombard is a hungry lion.

Light Heavy Weight

Hailing from Bulgaria, Stanislav Nedkov is enjoying a seven fight winning streak. The Bulgarian looks like he has a fair bit of potential – especially on the ground as Nedkov has earned himself a black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, however his stand up game my require some work. He is already fighting in Sengoku and his next opponent is set to be Kevin Randleman. This will be the test to see if Nedkov will be a future MMA star.

Heavy Weight

Whilst not being a consistently active mixed martial artist, Roger Gracie has shown potential in his two professional bouts. Currently the heavy weight is undefeted (2-0) in his mixed martial arts career. Gracie, as his name may suggests has an astonishing list of Brazilian Jujitsu credentials, winning titles in top submission grappling competitions like ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club), Submission Wrestling World Championship and the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Roger has the skills on the floor but will need to sharpen his striking skills in order to dominate and beat the best out there. Rumour has it that Roger Gracie will soon be signing on with StrikeForce to fight in the heavy weight division.

Stick with fightburger.com for part two of Who Are The Future Stars Of Mixed Martial Arts?

Mauricio Rua: “I would fight in the Heavyweight Divsion”

Mike Honcho — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:13:13 +0000

Just two months short of the biggest fight in his UFC career, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua stated that if the right offer came up he would move up to heavyweight and possibly face off with men such as Brock Lesnar or even Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

In a recent interview with the Brazilian website Terra.com.br, Shogun stated, “Depending on the money I would fight at heavyweight division. If I receive a good proposal and my moment is good and it is great for my personal marketing, I would have to give it consideration.”

“Shogun”, from Curitiba, Brazil; on October 24 Rua will be challenging Lyoto Machida for the UFC light-heavyweight championship at UFC 104.

Shogun will be coming back from consecutive TKO stoppages over Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell after being derailed at the hands of Forrest Griffin in his UFC debut. While Machida has gone undefeated in his professional career, this will be Machida’s first title defence since knocking out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 to take the 205 pound title.

Frank Mir: “Fedor is Ducking UFC Fighters”

Mike Honcho — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:54:13 +0000

When Frank Mir owned the UFC interim heavyweight title, he always made clear that he didn’t believe his own belt made him the best heavyweight in the world: Mir, like most MMA observers, said that Fedor Emelianenko is the top heavyweight. But now Mir’s opinion has changed.

Asked on the DAM Show why he thought Fedor had chosen to fight for Strikeforce instead of the UFC, Mir stated what many others have suggested; that Fedor isn’t interested in proving himself against UFC champion Brock Lesnar and the other top fighters in the UFC. Listen to the interview here:

Early UFC facts You Might Not Know About

Mike Honcho — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:51:24 +0000

Thanks to a poster on the sherdog forums, he has complied some interesting facts about the early UFC events. Some are pretty fascinating, I especially love how Joe Son rocked up to Art Davies office shirtless driving a convertable Porsche.

• Boxers James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Leon Spinks were both considered for UFC 1 before settling on Art Jimmerson. Jimmerson subsequently backed out of the event once he learned the rules (as he had a fight with Thomas Hearns a month later) but Seg offered him $20,000 just to show, making him the highest paid appearance fighter at UFC 1 (the majority received $1000 for initial appearance). During the event, upon viewing the brutality, Jimmerson’s corner conspired backstage to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble, which they did, but the towel caught on the fence and the referee did not see it. Jimmerson then verbally quit.

• Widely known: Gerard Gordeau kicked one of Telia Tuli’s teeth into the audience (which flew by a group of sponsor’s from Gold’s Gym, who pulled their advertisement deal after the first event based on this). Lesser known: Two more of Tuli’s teeth were embedded into Gordeau’s foot, which doctor’s decided not to remove for the remainder of the night in fear of exposing the wound. Gordeau fought twice more that night with 2 teeth stuck in his foot.

• Ken Shamrock only had 3 ‘real’ fights before entering UFC 1, all in Pancrase. It was decided he would be given the title of ‘#1 Shootfighting Champion of Japan’, along with a dozen more wins on his record (which were in reality, toughman fights) to build his stats and help promote Pancrase

• Freek Hamaker (in a UFC 2 dark match) was a porn theatre owner. He won his fight and was set to be on the PPV, but chose not to continue.

• The Patrick Smith/Scott Morris fight ended only because Smith stopped hitting him. McCarthy didn’t have the power to end a fight as a referee, and Morris’ corner stated beforehand he would never throw in the towel and looked away from McCarthy when Big John motioned to him. With Morris all but unconscious and not in a state to submit, Smith simply got up and walked away, which ended the fight.

• Rorian Gracie tried to replace Royce with brother Rickson at UFC 3. The decision was made, but Rickson wanted more money from Rorian to fight. When he did not receive this, he parted ways with the family and no longer cornered or trained Royce

• Kimo entered UFC 3 only weeks before the event when Joe Son drove to Art Davies’ office, shirtless and in a convertible Porsche and convinced him to let Kimo on the show. Davies’ agreed solely by Kimo’s appearance. Kimo was only a streethfighter with zero credentials, but was elevated to third degree black belt (tae kwon do) for the event. ~ The giant cross that Kimo carried to the ring: David Isaac wouldn’t allow props to the ring (in fear of having the event look like pro wrestling) so Joe Son told SEG that the large box shipped to the arena the day of the event contained special ‘training equipment’. In fact, it was the cross.

• Emmanuel Yarbrough could curl 315lbs. This feat of strength didn’t help when Keith Hackney hit him a total of 41 times with fists and forearms on the ground.

• Lee Mitchell wanted to wear boxing gloves in his fight with Shamrock, and even wore them to the ring, but was forced to remove them as they were not cleared beforehand by McCarthy

• Kimo wrote an apology letter to the Gracies for running out and celebrating in the Octagon when Royce couldn’t continue. Relson Gracie confronted Joe Son after the ordeal and challenged him to fight due to the disrespect, prompting the letter of apology to clear the air.

• Dan Severn had no professional fighting record to speak of when entering the UFC – and filled out an application in a magazine to apply. There was no ‘wrestling’ category, so he checked ‘other’. UFC was weary of this, and in order to be cleared he had to sign a contract stating “In case of your accidental death, we are not liable.” ~ Severn trained for the UFC with pro-wrestler Al Snow (who cornered Severn in the UFC for a while)

• 52 year old Ron “Black Dragon” Van Clief couldn’t persuade the UFC to allow him to fight at his age. In order to convince them, Van Clief agreed to enter the New York City Marathon to prove his athleticism, and if he completed the race, he would be allowed to compete.

• In 1994, SEG took a chance on David Hasselhoff’s singing career and made a pay-per-view for it. The event could never be measured by success as it was cut short by OJ Simpson driving his Bronco on the same evening.

• Before the Gracie/Shamrock Superfight was signed, UFC attempted to secure Emin Boztepe, a Kung Fu stylist who blasted the UFC in martial art magazines. The second choice was Bart Vale who was a popular stiff-working fighter in Japan. Neither came to fruition, so Shamrock was signed for the fight.

• Andy Anderson was a self-made millionaire who owned several businesses, including the Totally Nude Steakhouse in Longview, Texas. The city paid Anderson to shut it down, though it was very popular.

• Tank Abbot got his nickname as a reference from the movie ‘Every Which Way But Loose’. He was compared to ‘Tank Murdock’.

• Abbot was in-house for UFC 5 but got so drunk he lost his front-row tickets and ended up sitting high in the rafters. His discipline of ‘Pit-Fighting’ was a made up term by Art Davie to use instead of ‘streetfighter’. (Scott Ferrozo received the same title)

• Tank was suspended by the UFC for an altercation in the crowd with Allan Goes. This alone would have been bad enough, but Tanks’ girlfriend got into an argument with Elaine McCarthy (John’s wife) over the occurrence, and when Tank returned and found out, he approached Elaine McCarthy and threatened to ‘kill her’. This prompted John to force UFC’s hand in saying “either he goes or I go”. Ultimately, Tank got a (paid) suspension from fighting, and signed a letter of apology and since made amends.

• In 2001, Brian Johnson collapsed of a stroke while preparing a training partner for a pro-wrestling match. He was given a 50% chance of survival, and even if he did, would be a vegetable. Today, with his nickname “The Miracle”, he is able to move around unassisted.

• Gary Goodridge was offered status of ‘4th degree black belt in kuk sool won’, and a free gi, if he would represent their school at the UFC. His only true credentials were arm wrestling and a boxing background. The only submission he learned in the 2 classes he attended before the event, was called a goose neck. This is the very hold he put Herrera in, only instead of submitting him, he dropped 8 elbows on Herrera and knocked him out in 13 seconds.

• Coleman had no opponent for the finals at UFC X1, with Scott Ferrozzo withdrawing due to dehydration. The reserve fighter, Roberto Traven, claimed a broken wrist that many speculated was not broken at all. UFC considered bringing out Tank (whom Ferrozzo beat), but the decision couldn’t be finalized, and Coleman was handed the championship. To appease the audience for not getting a final fight, Coleman and Kevin Randleman staged a wrestling exhibition.

• Carlson Gracie is Vitor Belfort’s adopted father. Vitor was going to take on the last name ‘Gracie’, but pressure from the rest of the family over Vitor’s skills, put a stop to it

• UFC XV was set to feature Maurice Smith vs Dan Severn. Pride 1 was held 6 days before UFC XV, and Tank Abbott was set to fight Kimo on the card. Some law trouble kept Abbott from leaving the country, so Severn went over and fought Kimo @ Pride 1. The fight was so boring it was actually left off the dvd release when Pride went to video. Severn also got hurt in this fight, and Abbott subsequently filled in for Severn for the UFC fight, who had filled in for him in Japan.

• In Ultimate Japan, John McCarthy halted the fight between Conan Silveira and Kazushi Sakuraba, believing Sakuraba was hurt while on the ground and covering, though Sakuraba was fine. McCarthy admitted his mistake, but the decision was made. Sakuraba was so upset over the loss, he refused to leave the octagon for more than 45 minutes during the show. The Japanese crowd was irate, and later on in the same show the UFC decided to rule it a no contest and have them come back out and fight again. Sakuraba won this second contest.

Tito Ortiz v Coleman Confirmed!

Mike Honcho — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:47:27 +0000

Tito Ortiz the former light heavyweight champion is set to fight veteran Mark Coleman at 205 pounds in his UFC return. This fight will take place at UFC 106 from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mike Disabato, who is Colemans long time training partner, confirmed the rumor today via his twitter.

Stay tuned as more updates on this story continue.

Stirkeforce Salaries for Carano v Cyborg

Mike Honcho — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:39:31 +0000

Fightburger.com has received the fighter payouts for Strikeforce: “Carano vs. Cyborg” from the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) for the Showtime event held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, on August 15.

Gina Carano was the big earner of the night. In spite of getting stopped by Cristiane Santos in the first round of their main event bout, Gina earned $125,000 for her work. Her opponent, and new female champ Cyborg took home $25,000.

Gegard Mousasi who was also on the main card was one of the lowest earners. After convincingly defeating well-known veteran Renato Sobral in just one minute of the 1st round, Mousasi earned a mere $2,000 for his work.

Here are all the Strikeforce: “Carano vs. Cyborg” payouts:

Cristiane Santos: $25,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Gina Carano: $125,000
Santos defeated Carano via technical knockout (strikes) at 4:59 of round one

Gegard Mousasi: $2,000 (no win bonus)
Renato Sobral: $75,000
Mousasi defeated Sobral via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:00 of round one

Gilbert Melendez: $50,000 (no win bonus)
Mitsuhiro Ishida: $30,000
Melendez defeated Ishida via technical knockout (strikes) at 3:56 of round three

Fabricio Werdum: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Mike Kyle: $14,000
Werdum defeated Kyle via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:24 of round one

Jay Hieron: $55,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
Jesse Taylor: $12,000
Hieron defeated Taylor via unanimous decision

Scott Lighty: $4,000 (no win bonus)
Mike Cook: $2,500
Lighty defeated Cook via technical knockout (strikes) at 2:05 of round one

Justin Wilcox: $5,000 (includes $2,500 win bonus)
David Douglas: $5,500
Wilcox defeated Douglas via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:16 of round three

James Terry: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Zak Bucia: $2,000
Terry defeated Bucia via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:23 of round one

Alexander Trevino: $3,500 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
Isaiah Hill: $2,000
Trevino defeated Hill via submission (keylock) at 3:56 of round one

Keep in mind the salaries listed above do not include fight bonuses, sponsorships, percentages and other unofficial payments. It also does not include deductions for expenses such as insurance, taxes, etc.

The total base fighter payroll for the event was $468,500. 13,976 spectators packed the HP Pavilion for an approximate live gate of $735,710.

Strikeforce: Results, Cris Cyborg Reigns Supreme

Mike Honcho — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:37:13 +0000

Cris “Cyborg” Santos needed less than one round to become the first-ever Strikeforce 145-pound women’s champion, knocking out Gina Carano in the opening round of Saturday’s Strikeforce headliner at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

After an exciting start to the main event that saw Cyborg pick Carano apart with powerful punches, Santos used a late flurry of ground and pound to force the referee to step in and stop the bout just one second remaining before the end of the opening frame.

With the victory, Cyborg improves to 8-1 with eight-straight wins dating back to 2005, while Carano falls to 7-1 after suffering he first career loss.

In other main card bouts, Gegard Mousasi became the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion with a 60-second knockout of Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Gilbert Melendez retained the promotion’s interim lightweight title with a third-round TKO of Mitsuhiro Ishida, and heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum submitted Mike Kyle in the opening round to kick off the Showtime broadcast.

Jay Hieron, Scott Lighty, Justin Wilcox, James Terry, and Alex Trevino were all victorious on the event’s preliminary card.

The official results for Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg were:

Strikeforce Female 145-Pound Championship
Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos def. Gina Carano via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:59

Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship
Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi
Mousasi def. Renato “Babalu” Sobral via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:00.

Strikeforce Lightweight Championship
Gilbert Melendez vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
Gilbert Melendez def. Mistsuhiro Ishida via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:56.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Kyle
Fabricio Werdum def. Mike Kyle via submission (guillotine) round 1.

Jay Hieron vs. Jesse Taylor
Jay Hieron def. Jesse Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Mike Cook vs. Scott Lighty
Scott Lighty def. Mike Cook via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:05.

David Douglas vs. Justin Wilcox
Justin Wilcox def. David Douglas via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:16.

Zak Bucia vs. James Terry
James Terry def. Zak Bucia via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:23.

Isaiah Hill vs. Alexander Trevino
Alex Trevino def. Isiah Hill via submission (side choke) – Round 1, 3:56.