(Everybody with talent, get on the bus to San Jose! Not so fast, Skala. Photo courtesy of NapkinNights.)

Keep your fingers crossed, because the EliteXC fighters whose contracts have been in limbo since late October — and who have been legally barred from competing for functioning organizations — may be free to move on with their careers. We were first alerted to the news by Mad Xyientist on the UG, who listens to Sherdog Radio so we don’t have to:

BloodyElbow follows this up with more details:

A lot has been said about Scott Coker’s incredible business sense, and how he’s been able to build what’s basically a regional outfit into a legitimately profitable operation that still manages to pay its fighters well, all while miraculously staying on Dana White’s good side. And yet we’re still shocked that Strikeforce has enough cash on hand to purchase as large a property as Pro Elite. Or maybe they’re just assuming some of Pro Elite’s sizable debt, and no actual money is switching hands. We’ll let you know when more details emerge. But for now, it seems like Gina Carano, Jake Shields, Robbie Lawler and the rest are one step closer to working again, and that’s great news.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Though most UFC fans think of Jon Jones as a guy who tends to put his opponents through three rounds of body-slamming, reverse-elbowing hell, he actually finished most of his pre-Octagon fights in short order. Above is his 15-second knockout of Parker Porter at a WCF event in Massachusetts last June. Just another reason to keep your hands up around this guy.

For more on Bones, check out this analysis of his Greco skills, and this new interview with TheGarv. 

(Arlovski tries for the Dan Severn, sweat-soaked-grey-t-shirt look.)

Following his knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: Day of Reckoning, Andrei Arlovski has signed with Golden Boy Promotions and will begin his career as a boxer, reports FightHype.com.  

You may recall that Arlovski’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said he’d like to see Arlovski take on heavyweight boxing champ Nikolai Valuev if he was victorious against Fedor.  Of course, he wasn’t, so maybe Valuev won’t be Arlovski’s first opponent, which is probably just as well.  But whoever he does face in the boxing ring, at least he won’t be tempted to try another flying knee.

If you’re Arlovski this move makes perfect sense right now.  Having lost to Fedor, there’s no immediately obvious opponent for him outside the UFC ranks.  He’s already beaten Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson, Josh Barnett has the next shot at Fedor (though it won’t happen until the summer, at the earliest), so why not put on some bigger gloves and find out whether Roach really knows a boxing diamond in the rough when he sees it?

The upside for MMA fans is we get to see someone from our world match his skills against a real boxer.  We’ve all heard about how superior their striking is for so long, wouldn’t it be nice to find out the old-fashioned way?  Not to mention, this could actually get people to care about boxing’s heavyweight division again, at least for a little while. 

(Here comes the pain…)

Cain Velasquez is a former All-American wrestler and undefeated MMA fighter who has yet to see what the second round looks like in his pro career.  This Saturday at UFC Fight Night 17 he faces Octagon newbie Denis Stojnic, and all indications are that Velasquez’s undefeated streak will still be intact on Sunday morning.  

In this exclusive interview, Velasquez talks with us about the choice of opponents, his transition from wrestling to MMA, and his thoughts on AKA’s recent dust-up with the UFC over the video game licensing deal.

CagePotato.com: You’re facing a guy who’s making his UFC debut in Denis Stojnic.  What do you know about him and how have you been preparing for him?

The only thing I know about him is from watching YouTube videos of him.  He’s an aggressive fighter, he throws some wild punches, and he’s an extremely tough dude.  I’m working on turning the corner, not really standing there and banging with him, but looking for shots from there for the takedown.

You’re 4-0 and beat a fairly established UFC fighter in Jake O’Brien your last time out.  Why do you think the UFC decided to put you up against a guy stepping into the Octagon for the first time?

I’m not really sure, but they did.  I’m glad they did because that’s just more ring time for me.  When I get up to the big guys, the big names, I’ll be more ready.

(Jake Rosholt: A wrestler, but not the boring kind. Photo courtesy of WEC.tv.)

Five fighters will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 17; you can watch the action on Spike TV starting at 9 p.m. ET. But which ones have potential, and which ones are just being brought in to be fed to Cain Velasquez? Read on and find out…

JAKE ROSHOLT (MW)
?Experience: 5-0, with all wins by stoppage. Last fight was a second-round TKO of Nissen Osterneck at WEC 36 in November.
Will be facing: Dan Miller (10-1, 2-0 UFC)
?Lowdown: Rosholt’s long list of achievements in amateur wrestling include three NCAA championships at Oklahoma State University. He transitioned into MMA soon after graduation, setting up shop at Xtreme Couture, and has looked impressive ever since. But in his WEC debut against Osterneck, his standup defense looked sorely lacking, and he might be very vulnerable against a seasoned vet like Dan Miller. Rosholt is signed to Ted Ehrhardt’s Team Takedown crew, and gets a $100,000 salary plus health benefits and stipends for housing and a vehicle; in return, Ehrhardt will get 50% of his income for the next seven years. 

DENIS STOJNIC (HW)
?Experience: 5-1 fighting in Holland, Croatia, and Serbia. Four of his six fights have gone to decision.
Will be facing: Cain Velasquez (4-0, 2-0 UFC)
?Lowdown: Hailing from Sarajevo, "Denis the Menace" now calls the famed Dutch camp Golden Glory his home. But while he has no shortage of top European fighters like Alistair Overeem and Sergei Kharitonov to work out with, he’s also the kind of fighter who Velasquez eats for breakfast; in fact, it’s hard to see Cain losing this one. Wikipedia lists Stojnic’s fighting style as "Sambo, Karate." Unless he learned his sambo from Fedor Emelianenko and his karate from Lyoto Machida, we wouldn’t put too much faith in him.

(Welcome to the WEC, fellas.)

From a new press release on WEC.tv:

So that’s it — Condit and Larson are gone, and they’ve taken the 170-pound division with them. And it’s only a matter of time before the WEC completes its differentiation from the UFC, axes the lightweight class, and sends Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone up to the big leagues. But while it’s good to see the WEC adding divisions to make up for the ones they cut, you’d think a women’s division (or two) would come before a horse-jockey division. It kind of bothers me when women’s MMA is roadblocked due to a perceived lack of depth, then Zuffa installs a new men’s division where the #1-ranked fighter doesn’t even have ten wins yet, and the #8 fighter has won four of his ten fights. (And of course, how many American MMA fans out of 100 would be able to pick them out of a lineup?) Does this make any sense from a marketing perspective?

And the idea of 125-pound men fighting — doesn’t that seem kind of, I don’t know, unnatural to you? All your talk about their speed and endless gas tanks will seem beside the point when Frank Mir enters the cage and asks them to take us through the fight. Either the flyweights are going to have to stand on a step-ladder to reach the mic, or Mir is going to talk to these boys on his knees…

(‘An opportunity to criticize GSP, you say?  Count me in!’)

Well, LubeGate has officially run the gauntlet.  Matt Hughes is the latest former opponent of Georges St. Pierre to add fuel the greasy fire.  In a blog post to his website today, Hughes had this to say:

I’m not the only one who has said that GSP felt greasy during a fight. I know Matt Serra has mentioned it and, even in their first fight, I think BJ said something. I’m not saying GSP did something wrong and I’m not saying that it would have changed any outcomes of any fights; but what I am saying is, for my last two fights against Georges, he felt greasy.

Weird, he felt greasy in those last two fights?  As in, the two that Hughes lost?  Interesting.

Having more opponents jump on this bandwagon doesn’t help GSP’s case any, but what I’m wondering is, if he’s been greasing himself up for years why hasn’t he been caught before now?  The boys from the NSAC jumped all over him when they saw it at UFC 94.  How has he managed to apply Vaseline to his body in front of cameras and athletic commission observers for so long?  Is he taking a Vaseline supplement that makes it come out of his pores?  

(Noogie!)

The more Georges St. Pierre talks about his strategy for B.J. Penn, the more I’m struck by how scientific it sounds.  Usually when you hear fighters talk about their gameplan it’s vague classics like ‘push the pace’ or ‘take the fight to him.’  Basically, it’s stuff that is one step up from an inspirational slogan.

But GSP?  He practically steals your medical records in order to figure out how to beat you.  Just look at what he told SI.com about Penn’s physical strengths and weaknesses:

B.J. Penn, you were talking about his guard, he has very flexible legs. Another thing is, because he has very flexible hips, it made his thoracic cage more susceptible to being weak. That’s why I was working a lot of elbows to the body. On the ground I was putting my elbow in his stomach to make him tired. And a lot of knees. It was my game plan.

[…]

I know a lot of doctors. It’s a fact. When somebody has flexible hips, normally he has a weak thoracic cage. His bones are weaker. It’s science. And with B.J., that’s the case. He has very flexible hips, so his core is weaker than somebody who has normal hips. That’s why I was attacking the body a lot. People, when they fight B.J., they try to hit the head. But B.J. has very thick skin and he moves his head very well and his reaction time is very fast. He can move his head standing up, but his body never moves. I was targeting the body a lot.

As for allegations that he was greased up in the fight, GSP says he “cant’ believe” the Penn camp considered filing a formal complaint (though word now is that they’ve decided against it), that he’s not a cheater and will prove it in court if he has to, and also that it wasn’t any artificial substance that thwarted Penn’s high guard:

Yeah bro! If you have a Twitter account, please add us at Twitter.com/CagePotatoMMA. We’ll be using it to keep you updated on important shit coming out of CagePotato HQ, as well as our random MMA-related observations. Thanks so much, and spread the word!

(Props: Facey)

Our boy Matt S./"Facey" just sent us the second installment of his brilliant MMA highlight reel project, where he complies the best moments from each month into a single, convenient video. January ’09 had more than its share of killer moments, from Jose Aldo‘s knee-knockout and people’s-champ celebration at WEC 38, to the string of near-lethal KOs at "Day of Reckoning," to Jon Jones’s utter tooling of Stephan Bonnar, to Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal’s call-and-response bit at Sengoku 7. You can check out more of Matt’s work at FightFace.blogspot.com.

Below: A fan-shot video of Akihiro "Oh No" Gono‘s legendary ring-entrance at UFC 94. After the jump: The latest video trailer for UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson. Man, they’re really playing up the "London is rainy" angle…

(Props: BloodyElbow)

  
(Thanks Joe! Click pics for larger images.)

At ease, Potato Nation. As some of you might remember, we announced a contest on the site a couple weeks back where we asked you to creatively place our name in a public place, with $200 hard cash as the grand prize. Unfortunately, we had to sort-of unofficially discontinue the contest due to legal issues (long story), but we did get a couple of great entries that we wanted to share with you. Well, one of them is great. The other’s more shocking and insane (and therefore is the contest’s official winner). First the runner up, shown above, which was sent to us from loyal reader Joe V. He writes:

Awesome!  For your efforts, you get a CagePotato Mystery Prize Pack, which consists of a "Hall of Fame" t-shirt (or multiple shirts, if you need them), plus other stuff to be named later. Basically, we have nothing else to give you right now, but as soon as we do, we’ll hook you up.

The winner? Well, it’s not exactly in a public place, per se, but I think you’ll all agree that this is worth a hell of a lot more than $200. Have a seat, then click that "Read More" link…

(‘Hey there, sailor.’)

You people and your damned questions.  Everything from a rules clarification on the pick-em contests (how lame a question is that?) to an attempt at making us choose between Octagon girl Edith, Jenna Jameson (above, yikes!), and a microwaved Barbie doll (1. Edith 2. Barbie 3. Jenna, obviously!).  But for those of you who asked real, probing questions that deserve more than a one-sentence answer, we’re fixing to drop some answers on you.  

Got a question of your own?  Head on over to the forums and put it in this thread right here.  If we like it, we’ll answer it.  If we don’t, we may make fun of you in public.  Either way, something good happens for somebody.  And if you’re complaining about our ads, that’s not really a question.  We have to get paid somehow or else it’s back to giving out massages down at the docks for us, and we really prefer this job.

Cagepotato gets to pick the rules for MMA forever and eternity. What does it pick for rounds/elbows/kicks to the head/every other difference between UFC and DREAM/PRIDE/every other damn promotion? – Pingu

Finally!  It’s about time we got to have the final say over universal MMA rules for all of eternity.  You have no idea how long we’ve been waiting for this day.  

          (Props: MMA Payout)

Say you’re total moron and you want to learn to become a devastating MMA fighter and impress all your moronic friends.  What better way to learn than with the help of Frank Shamrock and full color photographs?  You can pre-order this bad boy from Amazon right now, and check out what you’ll be getting for your money:

A thorough introduction to this wildly popular combat sport–in FULL COLOR!

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is a combat sport that combines practices from several martial arts, including boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu jitsu, muay thai, and judo. Featuring more than 150 step-by-step, full-color photos illustrating proper technique, this guide by MMA legend Frank Shamrock provides novices with a firm foundation in MMA fundamentals. Shamrock introduces readers to his famous training and fighting system and provides instruction on each aspect of MMA in clear, concise detail, including striking, fighting from the clinch, takedowns, grappling, submissions, and escapes.
 

Frank Shamrock (San Jose, CA) has earned titles as the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight, World Extreme Cagefighting light-heavyweight, and Strikeforce middleweight. He is the color commentator for CBS’s EliteXC: Saturday Night Fight.

I think you mean was the commentator for EliteXC, but no biggie.  

Honestly, if there’s anyone who can teach the dummies of the world a thing or two about MMA, it’s Frank Shamrock.  Step one: read the book.  Step two: become a world champion fighter.  Step three: walk away.  Step four: spend the next few years fighting intermittently and talking about how great you used to be.  Step five: get braces.

There you go.  Tell me that ain’t worth $16.49 plus shipping.

(Image courtesy of BloodyElbow) 

Despite rumors that BJ Penn was considering retirement directly before or after his brutal, slippery loss against Georges St. Pierre on Saturday, BJ Penn has updated his Facebook page with a message that he’ll "for sure" be facing Kenny Florian in his next fight, possibly in June. (This follows a previous Facebook comment where Penn wrote "gsp was a bit greased but that takes nothin away from him at all he was the better guy!") Florian last fought at UFC 91 in November, where he scored a first-round submission victory over Joe Stevenson. So, he’ll have to make a choice that’s now all-too-familiar — take a long layoff and wait for BJ to be ready in the summer, or risk his #1 contender status with another place-holder bout.

And just to keep you up to speed on "Lubegate"…

(No man has seen Xavier Foupa-Pokam’s real face and lived.) 

— As previously rumored, WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit has signed on to face Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Brock Larson, who Condit was originally scheduled to face in a title defense at WEC 39, will also be competing on the Fight Night 18 card, likely against UFC newcomer Jesse Sanders. Larson has fought twice in the UFC, losing a decision to Jon Fitch in 2005, and winning a decision over Keita Nakamura in 2006.

— Denis Kang, who took an upset loss to Alan Belcher in his Octagon debut at UFC 93, will try to redeem himself in front of his fellow Canadians at UFC 97 (April 18th, Montreal). Kang will be taking on Xavier "Professor X" Foupa-Pokam, a French Cage Rage/Palace Fighting Championships vet and UFC first-timer who has won his last seven fights by stoppage. 

— Undefeated TUF 6 standout Ben Saunders has been forced to drop off the UFC 96 card due to a foot injury, and has been replaced by Tamdan McCrory. Saunders was originally supposed to face welterweight submission specialist Dustin Hazelett — who most recently submitted McCrory via armbar at UFC 91 — until Hazelett dropped off the card with an undisclosed injury and was replaced by 5-0 prospect Ryan Madigan. So now we’ve gone from Saunders vs. Hazelett to McCrory vs. Madigan. The world is not fair. 

(After the show it’s the after-party.)

Thanks to the good people at RawVegas.tv, I got to attend Clay Guida’s after-party at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone on Saturday night (too bad for them they ended up on a wild Penn chase along with the throng of Hawaiian fans at Studio 54).  But not only did they hook me up with free entrance to the party, once I showed up I had my own private table and bottle service.

This was weird for two reasons: 1) I’m not exactly a club kind of guy.  I’m more the dark, dingy bar where the patrons barely look up from the racing form to watch someone get thrown out kind of guy.  And 2) I have no idea how to respond to that kind of VIP treatment.  When people are nice to me, I assume that they either want something or have mistaken me for someone else.  But there I was at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, hanging with Clay Guida and his people while a waitress in a bikini was asking me what kind of bottle I wanted.

Naturally, I said “Jameson’s.”  When she asked me what kind of mixer I wanted, I said “ice.”  She looked at me as if I’d misunderstood the question.  

(With tailored suits like that he’s just as slick outside the Octagon.)

After an exhausting and entertaining UFC 94, we sat down with our Cage Potato Super Computer and churned out the arbitrary numerical data for the relevant parties.  It wasn’t easy, but dammit, it was necessary.

Georges St. Pierre +361

Whether you think he was greased up or not, he put a beating on B.J. Penn that can’t be explained away (Vaseline didn’t help him dodge jabs or score takedowns, after all).  He showed up in great shape, with a great game plan, and proceeded to do exactly what he said he would.  GSP is an absolute monster, and at just 27 years old he’ll dominate the division for the foreseeable future.  Good luck, Thiago Alves.  You’ll need it.

B.J. Penn -86

He’s still the best lightweight in the world.  Let’s hope this beating convinced him to stay in the division where he truly belongs.  If you’re going to be the smaller man in the fight, you’d better be more active and in better shape.  He was neither, and he paid the price.  Now give KenFlo his shot.

Vaseline + 590

To hear Penn’s trainers talk, you’d think it was a magical substance.  Just a dash and you become a guard-passing, ground-and-pounding machine.  We may find out how responsible it is for GSP’s success, because after this incident the athletic commissions will be watching closely, as will the UFC.

Props to the Las Vegas Sun, UFC.com, MMA Weekly, Combat Lifestyle, and MMA Fanhouse.

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

Originally scheduled for the undercard of Affliction’s Day of Reckoning show last Saturday, the welterweight bout between IFL/UFC vet Jay Hieron and 6-0 prospect Jason High had to be postponed to the very end of the lineup due to time constraints — as in, directly after Fedor vs. Andrei, when 80% of the audience was out the door, the pay-per-view broadcast had cut out, and nearly everybody with a videocamera had already moved over to the post-event press conference. Fortunately, Inside MMA was able to show the fight on their Friday episode. And it looks like Emelianenko’s mid-air knockout of Arlovski wasn’t the only KO from Day of Reckoning that you’ll eventually be seeing on "Best of 2009" lists. After about a minute of settling in, Hieron dashed in with a crushing right hook which floored High, then landed three or four uppercuts while High was already dead asleep. The Thoroughbred lets out a battle cry after being pulled off his opponent, which we’d imagine is partly joy over the highlight-reel victory, and partly relief that he finally gets to go home.

(Nothing says professionalism like hauling a big wooden cross around.)

When I read this press release announcing that former steroid-user and general MMA punchline Kimo Leopoldo was applying to be Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission, I assumed that someone was jerking my chain, as the kids say.  But this application letter would have me believe that he is totally cereal:

Please accept this letter as the submission of my written qualifications for the application of the position of Executive Officer for the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). It is with great pleasure and humility I offer my qualifications as an advanced equivalent for the position of Executive Officer for all of the reasons detailed below. … As a 14 year veteran in the professional kickboxing and MMA industry, I believe I hold a
heightened degree of expertise in understanding and working with fighters, matchmakers, managers, promoters, various professional associations, members of the press, venue operators, attorneys, the general public, and the commission and other governmental regulators on an international and national level.

[…]

And since it is going to eventually come up in the process, I will address my use of Steroids in this application letter. Yes, I used Steroids in my past to help support my efforts as a professional athlete/fighter. However, my experiences whether negative or positive have given me greater insight into the crutches of life’s downfalls and my decisions today come from experiences. I will say that my choices and decision making ability are educated decisions and made from a position of informed consent, as opposed to blind guidance . I can be honest about my past and can look a fighter in the eye and tell him/her with great confidence that use of illicit substances is not worth the future health issues it creates nor is it worth the risk they are taking against their license.

Way to turn your past steroid use into an asset rather than a liability, Kimo.  Looks like someone has been reading those MSN articles about how to ace a job interview.

The most interesting part of this UFC 94 video blog comes at around the 9:50 mark, when Dana White becomes clearly upset over the Georges St. Pierre greasing incident and remarks, “Georges is in trouble.”  Well, maybe not Georges so much as the cornerman who rubbed him down, though I’m inclined to believe Greg Jackson’s explanation, and also inclined to agree with Dana’s assertion that a little Vaseline did not change the outcome of this fight, one way or another.  Still doesn’t make it a good idea, though.

Other moments worth seeing here: Dana consoles a distraught Stephan Bonnar, Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo gush over Jon Jones, and Dana watches Akihiro Gono and his camp rehearse their elaborate Octagon entrance, which was truly a thing to behold.  When Gono and his boys walked out in those matching evening gowns, pausing every few steps to get their dance on, you could feel the crowd going through a range of emotions.  First came shock, then slight amusement, then genuine appreciation.  Honestly, it was the best entrance in the history of MMA.

In the post-fight press conference a reporter asked Dana what he thought of a guy who came out in drag and got his ass kicked.  Dana pointed out that a) a lot of people are going to get their ass kicked against Jon Fitch, and b) he loves Gono and what he brings to a UFC event.  Then he conceded: “But if you’re going to wear a dress you probably better win.”

I know some people will make the argument that Gono would have been better served focusing more time and energy on his preparation for the fight than on his entrance, but let’s be real.  Gono was going to get beat up with or without the awesome, cross-dressing entrance.  Might as well have some fun before the pain begins.

 
(Props: CagePotato reader Chris R.)

BJ Penn‘s trainer Rudy Valentino to InsideFighting (via Fightlinker):

St. Pierre‘s trainer Greg Jackson claims the back-greasing was completely unintentional, and was actually the result of another bizarre Jackson camp ritual. As he told MMA Weekly:

Dear Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Joe Silva:

It has come to our attention that UFC 100 will be held July 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. We, the undersigned, implore you to book a superfight between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and middleweight champion Anderson Silva as the main event. 

St. Pierre and Silva are both proud, humble champions who have proven their dominance in their individual weight classes. What better way to commemorate the evolution of the sport during the UFC’s historic 100th pay-per-view event than a bout between two of the most complete fighters that mixed martial arts has ever seen? St. Pierre vs. Silva would determine not only the best fighter in the UFC, but arguably the best fighter in the world as well. Would St. Pierre be able to control the middleweight champ with his takedowns and explosive athleticism, or would Silva’s laser-guided striking win the day? As UFC commentator Joe Rogan might say, how the fuck could you know?

Of course, a superfight between St. Pierre and Silva would be a huge economic boon to whatever city is fortunate enough to host it. According to an economic impact study pulled directly out of our own asses, UFC 100: St. Pierre vs. Silva would generate $187.3 million in tax and tourist revenue for Las Vegas, or $531.9 million for Montreal — most of it delivered via fierce “rain-making” sessions in Montreal’s many fine nude cabarets.

In closing, we urge you to arrange this historic match for UFC 100. Please don’t allow fight-booking to be dictated by sensible weight-class-based champion vs. challenger matchups, rather than what would make fans lose their shit the hardest.

Respectfully,

Fans and Supporters of Things That Kick So Much Fucking Ass

Show your support for our proposal in the comments section, and if you haven’t yet signed our real petition to get the MMA ban lifted in New York, please click here.

(Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn)

(Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva)

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

The UFC paid out a hearty $1,252,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for yesterday’s UFC 94 event. The figures are below, courtesy of MMA Weekly. Keep in mind that these numbers don’t include any undisclosed "locker room bonuses" often given out to fighters for exciting performances, or cuts of the pay-per-view revenue, which Georges St. Pierre reportedly has in his new contract.

– Georges St. Pierre: $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)
– Lyoto Machida $185,000 (includes $60,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
– B.J. Penn: $125,000
– Clay Guida $105,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Nate Diaz $85,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Karo Parisyan $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)
– Chris Wilson $80,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– John Howard $71,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Jon Fitch $68,000 (includes $34,000 win bonus)
– Thiago Silva: $29,000

    
(GSP’s brilliant Superman-jab, and Jon Jones’ spinning elbow to the back of Stephan Bonnar’s head, which caused Joe Silva to freak the fuck out. Props to NbleSavage and Smoogy on the UG.) 

— Last night around 9 p.m. PT, the MGM Grand Garden Arena slipped through a cosmic wormhole and landed in Bizarro World. How else would you explain Lyoto Machida picking up UFC 94‘s "Knockout of the Night" bonus in one of the two fights that didn’t go to a decision? The Dragon earned an extra $65,000 for putting Thiago Silva‘s lights out at the very end of round 1. There were no submissions last night (unless you count BJ Penn quitting in his corner), so the UFC decided to hand out two sets of "Fight of the Night" bonuses instead. John Howard and Chris Wilson both earned $65k for their exciting undercard match, which UFC newcomer Howard won by split decision. Nate Diaz and Clay Guida also picked up bonuses for their classic striker vs. hugger battle that ended with Guida getting his hand raised in a Split D.

— The UFC announced that last night’s show drew 14,885 attendees for a live gate of approximately $4.3 million. If that gate figure is accurate, it would make UFC 94 the sixth-highest-grossing UFC event of all-time in terms of ticket revenue. 

— Though the show was short on thrilling stoppages, the fans certainly got their money’s worth when it came to total fight time. UFC 94′s eight decisions broke the previous record of six, held by UFC 33, Fight Night 4, Fight Night 7, UFC 76, UFC 87, UFC 89, and UFC 90. No previous UFC event has ever featured more than two split decisions — UFC 94 had five, a record that hopefully will never be broken.