UFC 102 Earnings

Here are the confirmed earnings for the fighters from last Saturday’s UFC 102 as reported by Sherdog.com:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – $460,000 ($150,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus) def. Randy Couture – $310,000 (including $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Thiago Silva – $58,000 ($29,000 win bonus) def. Keith Jardine – $55,000

Nate Marquardt – $140,000 ($40,000 win bonus, $60,000 knockout bonus) def. Demian Maia – $28,000

Jake Rosholt – $86,000 ($13,000 win bonus, $60,000 submission bonus) def. Chris Leben – $30,000

Brandon Vera – $70,000 ($35,000 win bonus) def. Krzysztof Soszynski – $8,000

Aaron Simpson – $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus) def. Ed Herman – $24,000

Gabriel Gonzaga – $120,000 ($60,000 win bonus) def. Chris Tuchsherer – $10,000

Michael Russow – $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Justin McCully- $15,000

Todd Duffee – $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus) def. Tim Hague – $7,000

Mark Munoz – $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Nick Catone – $5,000

Evan Dunham – $14,000 ($7,000 won bonus) def. Marcus Aurelio – $13,000

Couture Signs with the UFC Again

Prior to his fight with Nogueira on Saturday, Randy Couture re-signed with the UFC.

First of all: wow!  The guy is 46 years old and keeps pluggin’ along.  His fight with Nogueira was one of the best heavyweight fights recently, if not the best, even though he lost.  Second, the contract is a 28-month six fight contract.  If he goes the length of his contract, he will be 49 years young when his contract is over.

He proved again that you can never count him out.

This comes shortly after signing with EA for their MMA game that will compete directly with THQ’s UFC-branded game.  What happened to Dana’s statement that any fighter that signs with EA is no longer welcome in the UFC?

Guess that only goes for the non-hall of famers, huh?

Congratulations, Cain! You’re Our Runner-up on…

Cain Velasquez was scheduled to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 104 for a possible shot at the UFC Heavywight title.

Due to scheduling and a quickly healing Lesnar, the UFC made a quick change to give Lesnar a fight in November, but they had to break up this fight.  The UFC let Cain know that they feel he’s not ready for Lesnar by giving Carwin a shot at the title first.

And Velasquez’s runner-up door prize?  He gets to welcome Ben Rothwell to the UFC.  Rothwell was victimized with Affliction Entertainment’s crumble and decided to sign with the UFC.  Rothwell was a beast in the ill-fated IFL and boasts a 30-6 record.  Hey! He’s fought 30 people, too!  Guess he’s almost as good as Fedor!  Oh wait.  He’s not Fedor, but he’s not a slouch and could possibly put the first blemish on Velasquez’s currently perfect record.

On the flipside, a strong performance by Cain in this fight and it keeps him right in the mix.  I think a win at UFC 104 over Rothwell and Cain should pick up the winner of the Cro Cop-Dos Santos fight to prove he’s got the potential.

A number of people question his power after punching Kongo in the face a million (okay, so that’s an exaggeration) times in their fight and not able to put him to sleep.  So I feel another fight even after Rothwell would do him some good.

That all depends on the climate though.

Imagine for a second that Carwin beats Lesnar, Cro Cop headkicks Dos Santos, and Couture is able to lay and pray Noguiera successfully.  Suddenly, there’s a couple of big names with wins, a whole slew of contenders.  Velasquez would put himself at the top of the pile with a win over Rothwell and any one of those names that’s not currently holding the belt.

Cain’s problem will be finishing any one of those guys.

First, though, he’s gotta take care of the 6′5″ 265 lbs. mammoth waiting for him on October 24, 2009.

Carwin Gets to Lecture Brock at 106

The rumors around the mill were saying that the more impressive winner of either the Couture-Noguiera fight or the Carwin-Valasquez fight would get to give Lesnar his first belt defense as the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion.  Even Dana White had said that either “The Natural” or “Minotaro” could get a shot if they looked impressive enough.

Well, that’s all a wash now.  Due to some scheduling issues, the Carwin-Valasquez fight (Carwin would have destroyed Cain) is not going to happen. It appears that Brock is going to be ready to go sooner than anticipated after some minor surgery following his destruction of Frank Mir.  Sooner as in: November.  Apparently the matchmakers hadn’t thought it possible for Brock’s lay out to be so short and had all the would-be contenders scheduled for other bouts within the promotion.

Since Brock is going to be ready, they need someone (maybe fodder) to put in front of him to keep building on his legacy and claim as the best heavyweight in mixed martial arts.  That lucky individual appears to be Shane Carwin.  Sorry Cain, but if you can’t finish Kongo, you have no prayer against Brock.

Earlier today Carwin had not given comment, but has since posted the following blurb in his blog confirming he has been offered the fight:

“I have verbally been offered the fight with Brock and I have verbally accepted this fight. My manager and the UFC are handling the the details. I am honored that the UFC has given me this opportunity. The fans of this sport are what makes MMA so great. I expect to be fighting at UFC 106 in November.”

Carwin looks to give Lesnar the good fight after Brock’s post-fight antics at UFC 100.  Carwin called Lesnar out stating “The flipping off of the fans that just lined your pocket with millions of dollars is just LAME. He may be a Champion but he has a long ways to go before he earns the respect of a Champion.”

If Carwin can tame the beast at UFC 106, he can show Lesnar how he thinks a Champion should act.

Fedor in Strikeforce

So for the forseeable future, there will be no Fedor-Lesnar fight.

I’m with Dana White when wondering what actually motivates Fedor.  We know what motivates M-1 Global: a cut of the stake (pun intended).  But what about Fedor?

Does he not want to prove, once and for all, that he is the best heavyweight in the world?  The speculation that he will prove this in Strikeforce is ludicrous at best.  Strikeforce houses three, maybe four guys that are worth sticking in the ring against Fedor: Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdrum and Sergei Kharitonov.

Just glance at the UFC and and its easy to see who houses more proven talent and a deeper pool of fighters to choose from.

The UFC stipped away all points of contention that could keep Fedor from fighting there.  He gets an “assload of money” (Dana’s words, not mine), an instand title shot, he can fight in Sambo whenever he wants, and on and on and on.  The only thing that kept the deal from going through is M-1 Global’s greed and Fedor’s willingness to be a puppy on a leash for them.

Maybe Fedor is being loyal to M-1 and wants to finish out his contract with the “promotion” with zero points of contention.  I don’t think so.

I think he sees Lesnar and a couple of the others and thinks he likes his 29 win-streak and that his face isn’t messed up.

Frank Mir’s probably thinking the same thing right now.  About his face, not the win streak.