(The UFC’s bloody Sunday, courtesy of MMA-Core.)

We know, the Index is a little late this week. We could say it has something to do with UFC 110 taking place in Australia, maybe make up some transparent lie about it taking longer to crunch the numbers when the fights happen in the Southern Hemisphere. But you’d never believe that…or would you?

Cain Velasquez +167
Even if Big Nog may be on the decline, beating him still means something. Finishing him means even more, and doing it in the first round, via brutal KO, means you just might be the next big thing. Suddenly the UFC’s heavyweight class has more viable challengers than they know what to do with. Talk about a good problem to have.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -101
Seeing Nogueira get knocked out cold is a little like seeing a unicorn die of a heart attack. You never thought you’d ever live to see it, and afterwards you kind of wish you never had.

Wanderlei Silva +82
Perhaps no one at UFC 110 needed a win as badly as Silva, and while he showed up with mostly the same bag of tricks, he got it done down the stretch. He may not have a title in his future, but as long as he puts on this kind of show, who cares?

Michael Bisping -75
Yes, it was a close fight, but when you end the second round stuck in a choke and the third round on the brink of unconsciousness, you can’t really complain about not getting the decision. Not unless you want to make sure that absolutely everybody has a reason to dislike you.

Mirko Filipovic +44
Sorry, but we’re not impressed by a prolonged throttling of a light heavyweight who had no reason to be in there. That performance only strengthened our belief that Ben Rothwell might put a serious hurting on the Croatian hero.

Anthony Perosh -12
Give him points for guts. There was every reason not to take the fight and one gruesome reason to get out of it in round two, but he plodded forward anyway. He’s not UFC material, but he is a tough son of a bitch.

George Sotiropoulos +71
We’ll admit it, we were surprised how good he looked on the mat against a very competent grappler. If he can beat another quality lightweight, and maybe even finish one, things could start to snowball.

Joe Stevenson -68
The old conventional wisdom on “Daddy” proves once again to be true. He’s good enough to beat the lower-level guys and hard-working enough to outlast some of the mid-level dudes, but that’s all. Beating him used to mean you’d earned a title shot. Now it just means you’re still in the hunt.

Chris Lytle +64
You have to love a crafty vet with so many tricks up his sleeve. The guy comes to put on a show every time and doesn’t kid anyone about angling for a title shot. We never get tired of seeing him.

Brian Foster -59
The loss is a setback, but probably only a temporary one. This kid still has a lot of upside and will probably only be better as a result of this learning experience at the hands of a vet.

Ryan Bader +82
Bader continues to impress with his stand-up, though we cringe a little when we see him relying too much on that looping right hand.

Keith Jardine -77
Perhaps no one’s style is as uncomfortable to watch, and yet weirdly mesmerizing. Not that we want to see “The Dean of Mean” go, but we also don’t see where he’s headed at this point in his career.

K-Sos +63
He was on his way to a decision over Bonnar, who’s notoriously difficult to put away, and the win was marred by the rare headbutt TKO. Mark Coleman would have been proud.

Stephan Bonnar -60
It’s kind of baffling that he still gets to rack up losses in the UFC, all because of one great fight several years ago.

Aussie crowd +113
Enthusiastic, educated, and not afraid of a little blood, or even several buckets worth. That’s our kind of people, right there.

Buffer Two-Step +79
Finally, a dance craze that awkward white dudes can get in on. The suit may say, ‘All business,’ but the moves say, ‘Can I buy you ladies a drink, and maybe breakfast?’