(Cain Velasquez works hard for his money, so you better treat him right.  Seriously, you better.  Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine’s UFC 104 gallery.)

The official reported salary figures for UFC 104 are in, and as usual they don’t necessarily reflect a final accounting of what each fighter took home, but they provide us with a good idea.  The event itself pulled 14,892 fans into the Staples Center (though one look at Dana White’s video blogs tells us that they weren’t all paying customers) for a net gate of $1,762,549.  As for how that was distributed among the fighters they came to see, well, check it out:

Lyoto Machida: $200,000 (no win bonus)
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $155,000
Cain Velasquez: $70,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus)
Ben Rothwell: $50,000
Gleison Tibau: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
Josh Neer: $14,000
Joe Stevenson: $94,000 (includes $47,000 win bonus)
Spencer Fisher: $26,000
Anthony Johnson: $30,0000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $12,000
Ryan Bader: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Eric Schafer: $13,000
Pat Barry: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Antoni Hardonk: $16,000
Chael Sonnen: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
Yushin Okami: $18,000
Jorge Rivera: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
Rob Kimmons: $9,000
Kyle Kingsbury: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
Razak Al-Hassan: $3,000
Stefan Struve: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Chase Gormley: $10,000

Some thoughts and addendums…
 

(Dana White discusses the impending Machida/Rua rematch, and UFC 104′s other fighters weigh-in on last night’s controversial decision. Also, Steve Mazzagatti shouldn’t be allowed to even *watch* MMA. Props to MMA Fanhouse.) 

- Don’t ask us how two of the three judges who presided over last night’s main event gave the first three rounds to the champion. Just take comfort in the fact that there will be an immediate rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. Dana White announced the news at yesterday’s post-fight press conference, saying "They won’t make the same mistakes next time. Each one will try to win decisively." For the record, DW thought Shogun won the fight.

- Anthony Johnson was basically fined $10,000 per pound for missing weight. After tipping the scales at 176 on Friday, Rumble scored a ferocious TKO victory over Yoshiyuki Yoshida in just 39 seconds. But because he came in heavy, he was ineligible for UFC 104′s $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, which instead went to Pat Barry. (Barry picked up a second $60,000 award for Fight of the Night; his opponent Antoni Hardonk got a check for the same amount, while beanpole submission artist Stefan Struve was awarded the Submission of the Night bonus for his triangle choke of Chase Gormley.) Johnson was already giving up 20% of his purse. When asked about the botched weight-cut, AJ had this to say:

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

The latest maddeningly brief video from BJPenn.com shows the Prodigy hanging out at his gym with Fedor Emelianenko and Fedor’s constant road-dog Gegard Mousasi. But when and why did Fedor fly to Hawaii? [Ed. note: Right, he's in California this time. And so is Fedor. Got it.] As usual, there are no answers, and the mystery of BJ grows. Still, the idea of Fedor and Gegard joining Penn’s already stacked training camp should give Kenny Florian fans the heebie-jeebies. Assuming, of course, that BJ actually trains with these people. All we know is, directly after this fight, Emelianenko jumped out of BJ’s pool. And he was at the bottom of the deep end at the time. And he was standing on one leg.

(You know, Cub, in bull riding this would have been considered a victory. Photo courtesy of Newsday.)

— According to an interview on intheguard.tv, WEC featherweight/human highlight-reel Jose Aldo says he’ll be getting a much-deserved shot at Mike Brown‘s belt at WEC 45 (November 11th, location TBA). Aldo has racked up five consecutive TKO/KO victories during his stint in the WEC, most recently slicing Cub Swanson’s head wide open in 8 seconds at WEC 41 last month. Brown made his second successful title-defense at the same event, out-pointing Urijah Faber in a classic five-rounder to pick up his tenth straight win. 

— With Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le out of action due to a blossoming acting career, Scott Coker has announced that Jake Shields will fight for the organization’s interim middleweight title in October; the exact date, location, and Shields’s opponent will all be announced later. Shields has long been known as one of the best welterweights in the world, but his first-round choke-out of Robbie Lawler last month proved that he could be very competitive at a higher weight. Plus, his homey’s already got the welterweight division on lock…

(Anthony Johnson does his Bushwick Bill impression following his July 2008 fight against Kevin Burns.)

If Keith Kizer has his way, Dan Miragliotta and Steve Mazzagatti’s ability to fuck up fights by not paying attention could be severely limited by the year’s end. The Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director revealed yesterday on the GoodSports radio show that his commission is trying to figure out how an instant replay system could be incorporated into MMA, to be used only when a potentially illegal blow leads to the immediate end of a match (i.e., Mostapha Al Turk getting eye-poked by Mirko Cro Cop, and Anthony Johnson’s repeated pokes by Kevin Burns). As Kizer explained:

(‘Why won’t you die!?’)

Apparently deciding that if he can’t fight Anthony Johnson he’d rather fight no one at all, Matt Brown has opted to sit out and heal up instead of taking a bout against a replacement opponent at the “Ultimate Fighter 9” Finale on June 20.  Johnson pulled out with an injured knee earlier this week, putting an end to a fight we were really looking forward to on account of the guaranteed aggression that would have resulted from putting those two guys in one cage.  

Brown reportedly decided to nurse some nagging injuries rather than fighting a late replacement, and you really can’t blame him.  Who knows, maybe the bout will still happen a little ways down the road.  It just seems too good not to.

(Photo courtesy of about.com.)

Bummer of the day, you guys: The welterweight scrap between Anthony Johnson and Matt Brown — which was scheduled to lead off the televised card of the TUF 9 finale (June 20th, Las Vegas) — won’t be happening. The following message was recently posted on Rumble’s Myspace Page: 

(Goodnight, sweet prince.)

I can’t decide what to make of Anthony Johnson’s public campaign to brand John Howard as a fight-ducking coward.  He says he’s just pissed off that Howard backed out of a fight with him, but that seems like a strange explanation.  And yet that’s what he told Versus.com when the subject of Howard’s potential bitchassness came up:

"He said it was his manager’s decision, but I think, at the end of the day, it’s really his decision. I don’t think your manager should make all your decisions, especially when you’re supposed to fight and if you are going to say, ‘yeah’ or ‘no.’ … I’m speechless about the whole thing … I’m going to eventually get to fight him and knock his teeth out. It’ll happen.  I want to beat him up just because he backed out."

It’s hard to see what Johnson really has to gain by fighting Howard, whose UFC debut saw him win a fairly boring split decision over Chris Wilson.  Meanwhile, Johnson has been racking up impressive wins against more experienced opponents like Luigi Fioravanti and Kevin Burns.

(Matt Brown proves that there’s no brotherhood among men with shoulder tattoos. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Matt Brown‘s dominant TKO win over Pete Sell at UFC 96 may have been tainted by some horrendous reffing, but the UFC is making it up to him with a solid step up in competition. Multiple sources are reporting that "The Immortal" will make his next appearance at the Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. finale show (June 20th, Las Vegas), where he’ll be taking on rising welterweight star Anthony "Rumble" Johnson.

Though Brown entered the UFC last year (via Team Forrest) with a shaky pro record of 6-6, he’s since built up a 3-1 record in the Octagon, with stoppage victories over Matt Arroyo, Ryan Thomas, and Sell. Johnson, who most recently beat Luigi Fioravanti into unemployment at last month’s UFC Fight Night 17, has a 4-2 UFC record and was responsible for two of last year’s greatest knockouts. As of now, the rumored card for the TUF 9 finale looks like this:

MAIN CARD
Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
Welterweight TUF finalist vs. welterweight TUF finalist (TBA)
Lightweight TUF finalist vs. lightweight TUF finalist (TBA)
Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson
Anthony Johnson vs. Matt Brown

("Another mid-level opponent who doesn’t put me any closer to a title shot? Sweet!")

— Well, at least the UFC hasn’t completely forgotten about Yushin Okami. The perennial top middleweight contender, who has won his last three fights against Jason MacDonald, Evan Tanner, and most recently Dean Lister in December, will reportedly be back in action at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas) against Dan Miller. In his last 10 fights, Miller has gone 9-0 with one no-contest, and has been undefeated in the Octagon, picking up wins against Rob Kimmons, Matt Horwich, and Jake Rosholt. An impressive win for Okami would further cement his case for a title shot, though we get the feeling that "Thunder" would have to rack up a few consecutive wins by stoppage before the UFC finally gives him a chance. With Serra/Hughes now official, the UFC 98 card is lookin’ stacked.

— Exciting welterweight rising star Anthony Johnson and impressive prospect John Howard have agreed to meet at the TUF 9 finale in June. Johnson is riding a two-fight win streak after his first-round TKO over Luigi Fioravanti at last month’s UFC Fight Night 17, and his highlight-reel head-kick KO of Kevin "Pokey" Burns at the TUF 8 finale in December. A veteran of the IFL and various regional MMA leagues in the East Coast, Howard made his Octagon debut at UFC 94, winning a split decision against Chris Wilson and taking home one of the event’s Fight of the Night bonuses.