I had like 12 people over, and I told them all before the decisions were handed out, that I thought it would be a draw. I had Hendo winning the first three rounds 10-9 each. Even though I felt he won the first round pretty unanimously, I didn't feel that it was a 10-8 caliber round. I had Shogun winning the 4th and 5th, the final round being 10-8. That said, I'm happy to see Henderson get the win, and can't wait to see him fight one of the champs. He got screwed over last UFC go around, when he beat Bisping and still didn't get his title shot. It was a fantastic fight, without question a fight of the year candidate. Loved seeing Wanderlei get a win over Cung Le. He came in with a great game plan, I especially liked how he would be patient, and wait for Cung Le to throw his crazy spin kicks and everything then attack during the kick. It was a game plan that no one else has really used against him, and it worked to perfection. He popped Le a few times during those kicks. I also don't think Cung Le did any cardio training at all, he was way too gassed at the end of 1. Urijah Faber looked good against a tough customer in Bowles. I know Bowles likes to stand and bang, but I'm thinking he needs to start using his wrestling background more and look for some ground and pound. Against guys like Faber and Cruz he is just too slow to win a standup fight against them. Overall, great night of fights, I'm glad I got this PPV card. It lived up to the hype for sure.
[video=youtube;OpFgSmpcwUM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OpFgSmpcwUM[/video]
Sounds to me like what Dana really meant to say was "I don't care about the fans that have been here from the beginning, because I'm going to get your money any how. All of my time and resources are going into getting new fans."
Rua reportedly suffered a broken jaw in the first half of the fight (Dan hits like a damn truck) but kept going, making the fight even more impressive considering.
Dan Henderson: $320,000 def. Mauricio Rua: $235,000 Wanderlei Silva: $270,000 def. Cung Le: $420,000 Urijah Faber: $134,000 def. Brian Bowles: $19,000 Martin Kampmann: $58,000 def. Rick Story: $19,000 Stephan Bonnar: $68,000 def. Kyle Kingsbury: $10,000 Ryan Bader: $48,000 def. Jason Brilz: $13,000 Michael McDonald: $84,000 Alex Soto: $6,000 Chris Weidman: $24,000 def. Tom Lawlor: $12,000 Gleison Tibau: $34,000 def. Rafael Dos Anjos: $16,000 Miguel Torres: $60,000 def. Nick Pace: $4,000 Seth Baczynski: $16,000 def. Matt Brown: $12,000 Danny Castillo: $34,000 def. Shamar Bailey: $8,000
You gotta think both Rua and Hendo cleared $1 million each for the epic performance they put on and leaving it all out there.
Yeah including OTN bonuses. I guess since it was his home town and he might just be on a one- or two-fight deal they are giving him decent money. I would imagine most of the fighters on the card got a good bump in addition to those baseline pays.
Rumour that Danny Castillo has been suspended by the CSAC for one year following his fight with Shamar Bailey, the heinous offense being dancing after winning. Hope this is a joke. Skip to 6:00 to see the shaky knee dance he does for like half a second: http://www.mma-core.com/videos/_Danny_Castillo_vs_Shamar_Bailey_UFC_139?vid=10024684&tid=100 The CSAC is aggressively awful. Like they've been double dog-dared to be the most incompetent.