MMA Coverage

Filed under: UFC, News

The UFC 117 fighter salaries are in and Anderson Silva and Matt Hughes each received the highest purse with $200,000 for the Aug. 7 event in Oakland.

Silva earned $200,000 with no win bonus while Hughes made $100,000 to show and a $100,00 to win, according to disclosed salaries provided Tuesday by the California athletic commission to MMAFighting.com.

Attendance for the event at the Oracle Arena was 14,610 for a gross gate of $1,565,130.

Full salaries are below.

Tags: Anderson Silva, MMA News, Matt Hughes by Ray Hui
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Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Welterweights

If there was any doubt that Jon Fitch is the second-best welterweight in the world, he erased that doubt on Saturday night. By thoroughly dominating Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Fitch firmly established himself as MMA's best welterweight not named Georges St. Pierre.

Unfortunately for Fitch, he was beaten so badly by St. Pierre in their previous fight that there aren't a lot of fans clamoring for a rematch. And if St. Pierre loses to Josh Koscheck in December, it's an open question whether Fitch will even accept a title fight if it's offered to him, since he and Koscheck are friends and training partners.

And so while UFC President Dana White has said Fitch earned the No. 1 contender position with his victory, I'm not so sure that Fitch's next fight will be for the title. I think it's more likely that we're going to see Fitch put into the Octagon with someone else (maybe the Jake Shields-Martin Kampman winner) as he continues his role as the welterweight division's permanent gatekeeper. Fitch is a great fighter, but I view him less as a No. 1 contender than as a guy who's stuck at No. 2.

Find out how I rank the rest of the welterweight division below.

Tags: Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, MMA News, Matt Hughes, Nick Diaz by Michael David Smith
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Filed under: UFC

As expected, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva got the nod from the UFC for the Fight of the Night at UFC 117, netting them both an extra $60,000 for their trouble. Silva also pocketed another sixty grand for his triangle choke finish, which was awarded dual Submission of the Night honors along with Matt Hughes, who took home the prize because, as Dana White put it, "I've never seen it before."

Knockout of the Night went to Stefan Struve, who survived a disastrous first round against Christian Morecraft to score a come-from-behind TKO victory early in the second frame of his preliminary bout.

Below, check out more news and notes to come out of Saturday night's post-fight UFC 117 press conference:

Tags: Anderson Silva, MMA News, Matt Hughes by Ben Fowlkes
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Filed under: UFC

As Anderson Silva made his way to the Octagon in Oakland on Saturday night, Chael Sonnen paced around inside the cage, staring Silva down and beckoning for him to come on inside and get a piece. It was classic pro wrestling-style stuff, and it perfectly complimented Sonnen's entire pre-fight schtick.

That was something I expected from Sonnen on fight night. It was what happened after that really surprised me.

As Silva reminded us several times, talking is easy. Doing it as well and in as consistently entertaining a fashion as Sonnen is a little harder, but it's still nothing compared to going toe-to-toe with the pound-for-pound best in the sport. Sonnen's pre-fight routine seemed like an act, but his performance in the fight proved that even if no one else believed he could back up those words, he never doubted it for a second.

Tags: Anderson Silva, Dustin Hazelett, Jon Fitch, MMA News, Matt Hughes by Ben Fowlkes
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Tags: Dana White, Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Hughes, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Pride by MMACoverage
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Canadian scrapper Georges St. Pierre’s next fight will be a shot at redemption and the welterweight belt.During the post-fight press conference, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White said St.Pierre will fight the winner of the Matt Serra/Matt Hughes championship fight set for December.

“Of course, I would like to fight Matt Serra because he beat me last time and I’d love to have a rematch,” said St. Pierre who lost his belt to ten-to-one underdog Serra earlier this year.

“I hope Matt Serra wins because I know I’m better than what I showed last time and I want to prove it to everybody.”

Tags: Dana White, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Patrick Cote, Randy Couture, UFC by MMACoverage
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Spike TV today unveiled the list of cast members who will appear on the upcoming sixth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.“The Ultimate Fighter: Team Serra vs. Team Hughes” features 16 welterweight (170-pound) fighters vying for a UFC contract. The season recently concluded filming and debuts Sept. 19 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.

The roster of “TUF” fighters exactly mirrors the rumored list that UFCjunkie.com (www.ufcjunkie.com) pieced together during the past couple months.

This season’s competitors include:

• Matt Arroyo
• Daniel Barrera
• Blake Bowman
• Mac Danzig
• Paul Georgieff
• Richie Hightower

Tags: Ben Saunders, Billy Miles, Blake Bowman, Daniel Barrera, Dorian Price, George Sotiropoulos, Jared Rollins, Joe Scarola, John Koloski, Jon Koppenhaver, Mac Danzig, Matt Arroyo, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Paul Georgieff, Richie Hightower, Roman Mitichyan, The Ultimate Fighter, Tommy Speer, Troy Mandaloniz by MMACoverage
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Somewhere in America there’s a guy who believes that Royce Gracie is the greatest fighter of all time, with Rickson Gracie as a close second.  If anyone within earshot doesn’t know who Rickson is, this guy will be glad to tell them about how he won over four hundred fights, how he’s still undefeated, and how he can magically heal sick children with his armbars. 

Chances are you’ve met this guy before.  Probably in a bar.  He may have been watching the UFC and shouting about how they should bring back Tank Abbott.  Also he was drunk.  This guy may be a minority in his views on MMA, but he’s not alone.

Tags: Kazushi Sakuraba, Matt Hughes, Renzo Gracie, Rickson Gracie, Royce Gracie, Tank Abbott by MMACoverage
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Apparently being a middle-aged fighter handicapped by a 25-pound disadvantage wasn’t enough of a test for Randy Couture . No, confirmed the UFC heavyweight champion, he had to fight his way past Gabriel Gonzaga with a broken left arm as well on Saturday.

In the aftermath of his third-round stoppage, The Fight Network reported Monday that “The Natural” endured a broken forearm after blocking the same Gonzaga high hick that knocked Mirko Filipovic out cold in April.

Couture won’t be forced into a cast, and instead will wear a splint for six weeks.

Tags: Gabriel Gonzaga, Georges St. Pierre, Herb Dean, Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Randy Couture, UFC, UFC 74 by MMACoverage
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