Top to bottom this is going to go down as one of the better cards of 2013. Prelims were great, undercard was pretty good (though there were some slow moments in Fitch/Maia) aside from Nog/Evans which was a complete dud. Main event was good--typical Frank Edgar performance where he seems to be able to get momentum too late in fights and just runs out of time. Benavidez/McCall was surprisingly competitive. Two thundering knockouts with T-Wood and Bigfoot. Bobby Green upsetting Jacob "Glassectomy" Volkmann and Dunham/Tibau turning into a slugfest. Pretty great night of fights.
If Rashad Evans beats Little Nog he gets to fight Anderson Silva... If Alistair Overeem beats Bigfoot he gets to fight Cain Velasquez... Whoops.
UFC title contenders... Flyweight: none, Joe Benavidez (rematch) and John Moraga maybe one fight away each Bantamweight: champion on the shelf for up to a year, second interim title fight coming up Featherweight: Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes (rematch) also coming close Lightweight: Anthony Pettis Welterweight: Nick Diaz (booked), Johny Hendricks (if he beats Ellenberger) Middleweight: none, Chris Weidman (champ won't fight him), Hector Lombard (if he beats Okami), Cung Le (only champ considers him) Light Heavyweight: none, Chael Sonnen's getting the shot because of the TV show, Alex Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi could determine next in line Heavyweight: none, Daniel Cormier (champ won't fight him), Junior dos Santos (not immediate rematch worthy) Not a great situation for title fights. The UFC is going to have to pull it out of their asses.
My night was made by Silva KTFO Overeem. Fuck I can't stand that clown, so glad he got his shit rocked. Now maybe they can line up JDS/Reem and JDS can beat him out of the UFC. I was not impressed by Aldo, at all. He won the fight, but it wasn't impressive. I really have started to dislike watching him fight since he came to the UFC. Where is the WEC Aldo? He fought way too conservative for my liking. Rashad's career is over. WTF was that absolute horse shit of a fight? What's next for him?
Dana already said if Hendo wins, he gets winner of Bones/Sonnen. Weidman will get the fight at MW. Anderson is just gonna have to take it.
Dana just said that the post fight conference that Weidman is the only fight left for Anderson and that Rashad looked worse than he's ever seen him.
Bonuses of $50,000 went out to Aldo, Edgar, Silva, and Green. Woodley deserves a bump after his KO, too.
Back on the Pettis thing, kind of unfair to Lamas who has been putting in work at FW to have someone from another weight class jump down and take that fight away from him. Probably need to insist on keeping guys in their divisions from now on after all the Belfort/Sonnen shenanigans.
i dont think reem is that good and getting knocked out by bigfoot was confirmation. i saw an interview where rashard said he was contemplating retirement prior to the fight- maybe that attitude was counterproductive.
Rashad Evans: $300,000 Jose Aldo: $290,000 ($120,000 to show, $120,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus) Alistair Overeem: $285,714.29 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $174,000 ($107,000 to show, $67,000 win bonus) Frankie Edgar: $170,000 ($120,000 to show, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus) Antonio Silva: $120,000 ($70,000 to show, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus) Demian Maia: $120,000 ($60,000 to show, $60,000 win bonus) Tyron Woodley: $87,000 ($43,500 to show, $43,500 win bonus) Bobby Green: $70,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus) Jon Fitch: $66,000 Joseph Benavidez: $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus) Evan Dunham: $46,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 win bonus) Gleison Tibau: $33,000 Jacob Volkmann: $22,000 Yves Edwards: $21,000 Isaac Vallie-Flagg: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus) Dustin Kimura: $14,400 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus, fined $1,600 for missing weight) Francisco Rivera: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus) Jay Hieron: $12,000 Edwin Figueroa: $10,000 Ian McCall: $9,000 Chico Camus: $8,800 ($8,000 to show, $800 from Kimura for missing weight)
