(Come on, Dan — how many times did we go over the inverted-Colemura escape in training? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Not only did Rashad Evans‘s $375,000 paycheck from UFC 108 eat up a hefty 36% of the event’s total disclosed payroll — $1,043,000, including end-of-night bonuses — Sugar was also the only fighter to earn six figures on Saturday night. Considering there were no other major UFC stars on the card due to The Curse of ’09, it makes sense; hopefully Evans bought at least one round at the afterparty. Full UFC 108 salary figures are below, courtesy of MMA Junkie:

Rashad Evans: $375,000 (includes $175,000 win bonus)
def. Thiago Silva: $55,000

Paul Daley: $84,200* (includes $18,000 win bonus, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Dustin Hazelett: $19,800*

Sam Stout: $74,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
def. Joe Lauzon: $62,000 (includes $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Jim Miller: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Duane "Bang" Ludwig: $12,000

Junior Dos Santos: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Gilbert Yvel: $30,000

(Evans fights through his lifelong phobia of Brazilian asses to get the takedown at UFC 108. Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine.)

The UFC’s cursed event is in the books, and amazingly it didn’t result in the MGM Grand being burned to the ground or Bruce Buffer suddenly growing a tail mid-broadcast. So what did we get out of Saturday night’s event? That’s what the Potato Index is here to tell us. Read on to find out who’s up and who’s down according to our arbitrary numerical rankings system.

Rashad Evans +47
“Suga” goes back to his wrestling roots to notch a decision victory. Not his most exciting win, but one that keeps his dream of fighting “Rampage” alive. At this point though, can that fight possibly be good enough to justify all the trouble?

Thiago Silva -63
Down two rounds to none, with no real hope of winning a decision, you have to wonder why he didn’t put everything he had into putting Evans away when he had him hurt. That’s a question Silva is going to be taking to bed with him for a long time.

(Ariel Helwani gets his interview time with Dana White rudely interrupted.)

The entertaining little mating dance between Dana White and James Toney may have finally reached the point where a decision is inevitable. After Toney materialized in Las Vegas this weekend to call out DW yet again, it ought to be clear enough that he isn’t going to get bored and lose interest all on his own. Partly that’s because Toney probably doesn’t have a whole lot else going on in his life, but partly it’s because, whatever you think of his abilities as a fighter, dude is persistent.

If White doubted that before, he doesn’t after Toney appeared like a mumbling angel on his shoulder this weekend. It’s time to either set the guy up with a fight or else stop letting him into these damn press conferences.

Since option number two is obviously no fun, I vote for option number one. Toney may be a 41-year-old, semi-brokedown former boxing great. His best years, along with his days of speaking clearly and coherently, may be behind him. If he were signing on to fight for another MMA organization, White would be quick to cite all that as evidence that his competitors don’t respect the sport or its fans.

(Noons and Diaz on the same card again? Don’t be scared, homey…)

Though Marius Zaromskis line-jumped him for a Strikeforce welterweight title shot, Jay Hieron has made peace with the disappointment and is ready to move on with his career. "All good things come to those that wait," Hieron recently told MMA Junkie Radio. "Trust me, I’m going to make a statement in my next fight." If early reports are accurate, that statement could come against welterweight veteran Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Miami (1/30), supporting the Diaz vs. Zaromskis headliner. Riggs was victorious in his last two Strikeforce appearances against Luke Stewart and Phil Baroni, and picked up a couple of wins last month in smaller promotions against two guys with losing records. Hieron is on a six-fight win streak, most recently scoring a unanimous decision against Jesse Taylor at Carano vs. Cyborg in August.

This month’s Strikeforce card is also expected to feature the MMA return of KJ Noons, best known for becoming EliteXC’s 160-pound champ after beating Nick Diaz via cut stoppage in November 2007 — then losing his belt when he refused a rematch. Noons hasn’t competed in MMA since his 48-second smoking of Yves Edwards in June ’08, after which he left the sport to take a few boxing matches. According to MMA Mania, his return fight will put him up against undefeated lightweight Billy Evangelista, who most recently won a decision over Jorge Gurgel at a Strikeforce Challengers event in November. If Noons can get past Evangelista, he’s a factor again. Will we eventually get to see a rematch between Noons and Diaz? Or at least another family vs. family post-fight brawl? Is there a statute of limitations on bitchassness?

(Photo courtesy of Maxim.)

With Spike TV’s The Best of Pride Fighting Championships set to kick off next Monday at 11 p.m. ET/PT (edit: premiere date has been changed to Friday, January 15 at 10 pm), it’s time to get acquainted with the show’s foxy host, Kenda Perez. Born in Laguna Beach, California, the Mexican-American model began drawing attention in 2007, when she earned a finalist spot in Maxim‘s "’Hometown Hotties" competition. Kenda has represented Maxim at various promotional events, once guest-starred on 1 vs. 100 as an ambassador for the mag, and has become a familiar face in the crowd at UFC events. You can learn more about Kenda at her official site, and follow her life on Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. Lots more pics — plus a rather-amazing video of Kenda turning herself into an ice-cream sundae — await you after the jump…

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Though UFC 108 had a lot of great finishes and battles to choose from, the recipients of the traditional end-of-night bonuses should come as no suprise. Picking up the $50,000 bumps are:

– Knockout of the Night: Paul "Semtex" Daley, for the IED he detonated on Dustin Hazelett.

– Submission of the Night: Cole Miller, for his inverted triangle on Dan Lauzon; I know it’s early, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing that one on "Best of 2010" lists.

– Fight of the Night: Sam Stout and Joe Lauzon. After suffering through Lauzon’s takedowns and elbows in the opening minutes, Stout put on the striking performance of his life en route to a lopsided decision.

Other notes on the evening…

("’Ey check me out, guys, I’m Joe Hogan. ‘Duhhhh…I do drugs…duhhhh…crazy, high-level zhoo-zhitsu…duhhhh…eat this buffalo penis and I’ll give you money…duhhhh’." Photo courtesy of the UFC 108 Weigh In Pics set on CombatLifestyle.)

Strap yourselves in, fight fans — IT’S TIME FOR THE MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED GRUDGE MATCH OF 2010. (So like, since yesterday, basically.) After a powerful curse stole nine fighters from the lineup, the survivors are ready to show that their brothers didn’t blow out their knees and catch staph in vain. For those of you paying for this pay-per-view, console yourself with the fact that the shittiest cards can often be the most suprisingly awesome. They can also be just as shitty as advertised, but we’ll try to stay positive for now. Complete UFC 108 results — from the Spike TV prelim fights all the way through Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva — await you after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest…

(Takanori Gomi wins the PRIDE lightweight title by knocking out Hayato Sakurai at Shockwave 2005.)

This would have been incredible if it happened three or four years ago, but hey, better late than never, right? According to MMA Fighting, lightweight legend Takanori Gomi has signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC; no word yet on the date of his debut or who his first opponent will be. Gomi visited the States last month to meet with the UFC and Strikeforce, and take in a training session at American Kickboxing Academy.

Holding a record of 31-5, Gomi is best known for his dominant run in PRIDE from 2004-2006, where he won the organization’s lightweight belt and took out such notable fighters as Jens Pulver, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Hayato Sakurai, and Mitsuhiro Ishida. However, his last PRIDE appearance was a shock gogoplata loss to Nick Diaz in February ’07, and he then went 2-2 in Sengoku, dropping matches to Sergey Golyaev and Satoru Kitoka; after the Kitaoka loss, Gomi began to question his training and motivation. Though Gomi has won his last two bouts, he hasn’t been facing the kind of top-level competition that he regularly enjoyed at his peak. Will the UFC’s talent-rich lightweight class re-ignite the Fireball Kid, or will he join Mirko Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva in the PRIDE Curse Club?

(Chandella Powell makes her big debut. Photo courtesy of the UFC 108 Weigh In Pics set on CombatLifestyle.)

From UFC.com…

MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Thiago Silva (205) vs. Rashad Evans (205)
Paul Daley (172*) vs. Dustin Hazelett (168)
Sam Stout (155) vs. Joe Lauzon (155)
Jim Miller (155) vs. Duane Ludwig (156)
Gilbert Yvel (239) vs. Junior Dos Santos (237)

SPIKE TV PRELIMINARY CARD (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Jacob Volkmann (171) vs. Martin Kampmann (171)
Dan Lauzon (155) vs. Cole Miller (155)

OPENING BOUTS
Ryan Jensen (186) vs. Mark Munoz (185)
Jake Ellenberger (170) vs. Mike Pyle (171)
Rafaello Oliveira (156) vs. John Gunderson (155)

* Due to safety concerns, the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn’t let Daley attempt to cut to 171 pounds. According to CageWriter, Daley appeared shaky and off-balance directly before hitting the stage. Hazelett agreed to a catchweight bout of 172 pounds and Daley will be fined 10% of his purse.

("The Theory of Competition." Props: Tap or Sleep via Fightlinker)

– Diego Sanchez’s amazingly drunken acceptance speech at the World MMA Awards. (Watch Kalib Run)

– The UFC 108 injury curse claims matchmaker Joe Silva. (MMA Weekly)

– Shinya Aoki sort of apologizes for awful behavior at Dynamite!! 2009. (Sherdog)

– Fitch vs. Alves rematch rescheduled for UFC 111 in March. (MMA Mania)

– "Best of PRIDE" highlight series debuts January 15th on Spike TV. (MMA Junkie)

– Rashad Evans credits Rampage Jackson with helping him cope with loss. (MMA Fighting)

– Which fighters were the biggest UFC draws in 2009? (MMA Payout)

– The worst NBA draft picks of the decade. (Bleacher Report)

– Get psyched for Bikini Model Search 2010. (Bullz-Eye)

– Five things to watch for in the Rose Bowl. (Scores Report)

– Hey, check out this monkey eating Jell-O. (Asylum)

– The top 10 New Year’s resolutions that all men should make. (Ask Men)

– Denzel Washington trains to kick ass for Book of Eli. (Screen Junkies)

– The top 10 NASCAR women of 2009. (All Left Turns)

– World leaders you didn’t know were drunk. (Made Man)

– Dominican kid goes berzerk on his classmates. (Nothing Toxic)

– Jessica Cho is your Girl of the Day. (Break)

At the beginning of every year there are always nuggets of conventional wisdom that seem absolutely unassailable in January and are laughable by December. This has always been the case, and not just in the world of MMA. For instance, in January of 1941 Pearl Harbor was a nice, calm, wonderfully exotic place for U.S. servicemen to be stationed. By December it was fodder for a horrible Michael Bay movie. Just goes to show that we never know as much as we think we do, though it doesn’t stop us from making definitive statements that will later seem totally ridiculous. Here now are some of the MMA truths that became lies in 2009…

Lyoto Machida is the most boring fighter in the UFC

At the start of 2009 Machida had finished just two of his last seven fights (one of them a TKO due to exhaustion), and had cemented his reputation as the fighter who was too "elusive" to be interesting. The UFC seemed intent on keeping him away from a title shot, but inked him for a showdown of undefeated Brazilians against Thiago Silva at UFC 94. That’s when "The Dragon" showed his fangs or claws or whatever it is that dragons have, and after knocking out Rashad Evans to claim the light heavyweight title in similarly ferocious fashion a few months later, we were forced to abandon our belief that Machida would forever be MMA’s version of Ambien. Too bad that our revised position didn’t fare much better…

Lyoto Machida is damn near unbeatable

The “Machida Era” was supposed to be a reign as dominant and prolific as that of middleweight champ Anderson Silva, which left many of us scratching our heads when “Shogun” Rua got the nod as his first challenger. Rua was 2-1 in the UFC at that point and he hadn’t beaten anyone even near their prime since leaving Pride. Despite coming in as a heavy underdog, Rua gave Machida all he could handle for five rounds and seemed to be on his way to a decision victory before the judges decided to discount leg kicks altogether. Machida survived with the belt, but not with his aura of invincibility.