(Photo via Getty)

Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown put on a show at UFC on FOX 12. It wasn’t the 5-star epic poem many were expecting, but it was still a fun, entertaining fight that made spending a night in front of the TV worth it.

But was it worth it for the fighters?

Heading into the card, media pundits discussed the potential paydays for the card’s fighters. They noted four fighters could earn six figures. Friend of CagePotato Trent Reinsmith summed up our thoughts on the issue:

Three fighters earned six figures. And only five fighters made fewer than $10,000 (this excludes “of the night” bonuses and the mythical locker room bonuses as well).

Lawler earned $210,000, the highest pay of the night. Matt Brown received $46,000.

Anthony Johnson made the easiest $106,000 of his life in a 44-second drubbing of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who took home $114,000 to act as a human punching bag–not bad!

Jorge Masvidal, too, made a pretty penny. He received $84,000 in his victory over Daron Cruickshank.

Here are the figures for the entire card (all via MMAJunkie):

(So you mean to tell me that Matt Brown missed weight, Anthony Johnson made weight, and Lil’ Nog actually showed up? No. Impossible. / Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting)

The UFC is in San Jose tonight with a free fight card that can only be described as “legit man [expletive].” UFC on FOX 12 kicks off at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, and BG will be sticking round-by-round results after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

On the lineup: A welterweight demolition derby between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown that will likely produce the next welterweight title challenger, the continuing saga of Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at light-heavyweight, Clay Guida bouncing around the cage against fellow featherweight Dennis Bermudez, and this frickin’ guy.

Shoot your own thoughts in the comments section, or fling them at us on twitter. And as always, thanks for coming.

(Props: UFC on YouTube)

UFC on FOX 12 weigh-ins went down earlier today in San Jose, and no, they did not proceed without incident. Most notably, Matt Brown came in way heavy on his first attempt, tipping the scales at 172.5 pounds for his welterweight headliner against Robbie Lawler. Usually, a fighter in his position would grit his teeth and go back to the sauna for an hour. But due to a weird miscommunication, that didn’t happen. FOX Sports’s Marc Raimondi has the report:

[After missing weight], Brown was advised by a commission doctor that he should not continue to cut weight. By rule, a fighter has another hour to try to make weight. Brown thought the doctor was telling him he would not be allowed to weigh in again, according to CSAC executive officer Andy Foster.

“There’s a difference between advisement from a doctor and a directive by a doctor,” Foster told FOX Sports.

When a fighter misses weight in California, he or she must forfeit 20 percent of his or her purse, 10 percent to the commission and 10 percent to the opponent. After a discussion between the UFC and commission officials, the CSAC decided not to fine Brown.

“We were just looking after his health and safety, but I was going to let him on [the scale again],” Foster said. “I was going to give him his time. Chalk it up to miscommunication.”

(Props: UFC on YouTube)

Related: Matt Brown and Erick Silva brawl til’ they fall, and Robbie Lawler kicks Bobby Voelker’s damn head off

The fights are tomorrow, dudes. Come back to CagePotato.com at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the UFC on FOX 12 main card. Have a great weekend!

(Our friend Georgie wrote a “Hot Mess Guide” to surviving the summer, and it’s awesome, and you should all read it here.)

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(This photo and all photos after it via Getty)

By Jared Jones

It’s the halfway-ish point of the year, which means that we are a mere six or so months away from handing out our annual Potato Awards in categories such as “MMA Fail of the Year”, “Media Shill of the Year”, and the always coveted “Krazy Horse Bennett Arrest of the Year.” But because you Taters have been good this year, we’re going to allow you to open one present early: Our definitive ranking of the best UFC brawls of the year, so far.

It’s been a rocky year for the UFC, to say the absolute least. Pay-per-view numbers are tanking, fan interest is waning due to market oversaturation, and even the promotion’s new video game has been plagued by (albeit hilarious) technical issues. But the great thing about the UFC/MMA in general is that all can be forgiven with a few great fights, and these 10 brawls are undoubtedly the kernels of corn hidden amongst the soggy floor-turds that the UFC has been shitting out this year.

To repeat: This list is only dedicated to the best *brawls* of the year, which implies a fight in which both participants take their fare share of licks. TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao was a one-sided beatdown, albeit a brilliant one-sided beatdown, and therefore bears no mention here. Except that I just mentioned it. God damn it.

Let’s just get to the top 10 brawls of the year, nearly all of which contain links to full fight videos for your viewing pleasure…

#10 – Kevin Souza vs Mark Eddiva: TUF Brazil 3 Finale

(Check out Souza vs. Eddiva in its entirety here.)

A classic example of two guys with more heart than brains (or defensive capabilities) leaving it all in the octagon, Kevin Souza vs. Mark Eddiva opened up the FS1 prelims for the TUF Brazil Finale in a huge way.

Watching Souza vs. Eddiva was kind of like watching two women play Tekken for the very first time, in that both fighters only seemed to understand how one button on their controllers worked — for Eddiva it was leg kicks, for Souza it was the overhand right. These two techniques were traded with absolutely zero setup for two highly entertaining rounds, earning both men a $50,000 “Fight of the Night’ bonus in an evening of otherwise unmemorable decisions and memorable-for-all-the-wrong-ways squash matches. It was Souza, however, who walked away from the fight victorious via an always rare standing TKO.

(We’d include “The Dana White 24/7 feed — all Dana White, all the time,” but that’s kind of what the UFC is already. / Photo via Getty.)

If the UFC expects us to shell out $10 every month to watch local talent and foreign-language reality shows on the Internet, they’ve got another thing coming. Here are some suggestions for new Fight Pass content that would actually make the digital streaming service worth our time and money…

1. Live footage of fighter weight cuts (i.e., “sauna-cam”/”salt bath-cam”). Who wouldn’t want to see how brutal these things can get?

2. The complete library of TUF audition tapes.

3. Dana White bench pressing and doing pull ups.

4. Any existing video of Dana’s old boxercise classes.

5. Nicco Fertitta’s football highlights.

6. Random drug tests.

7. The first season of Keeping Up With the Koschecks.

(That’s how you’re gonna beat ‘em, Butch. They keep underestimating you. / Photo via Getty)

Once again, welterweight contender Matt Brown is heading into battle as an underdog. According to BestFightOdds, the betting line for the July 26th UFC on FOX 12 main event between Brown and Robbie Lawler opened with Lawler as a strong -260 favorite and Brown as a +180 ‘dog. “The Immortal” is currently on a seven-fight win streak, and was the betting underdog in four of those fights, including his last match against Erick Silva, God knows why.

Of course, Lawler represents the toughest test of Brown’s career by far, and it’s not surprising that the oddsmakers are favoring him here. On the other hand, Brown keeps knocking people off in brilliant performances, showing no regard for these silly, arbitrary betting lines with their pluses and minuses that half of you still don’t understand. Anybody feel like dropping some cash on him?

(First Condom Depot and now Ultra Lube. This sport is turning into one big game of grab-ass, I tell ya. Photo via Getty.)

Fresh off third round TKO’s of Erick Silva and Jake Ellenberger at Fight Night 40 and UFC 173, respectively, Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler are set to do battle in what will surely go down as “The greatest brawl since Frye vs. Takayama” at UFC on FOX 12 on July 26th. The announcement was made by Dana White via Twitter earlier today, who also confirmed that the winner of Brown vs. Lawler will earn the next shot at Johny Hendricks when he returns from bicep surgery.

Suffice it to say, any MMA fan whose isn’t verging on a Scanners-esque mindsplosion trying to comprehend the awesomeness of this fight is either dead or dying. Lawler and Brown are essentially mirror images of each other — uber-violent, no-nonsense brawlers who have experienced improbable career comebacks in recent years — and their upcoming clash is all but guaranteed to deliver a “Fight of the Year” nominee and a clear cut #1 contender at 170 lbs.

Is it just me, or does the booking of Lawler vs. Brown signify the culmination of what has been an amazing couple of months for MMA?

(We’d like to formally retract that “Caribbean Jerk” comment. / Photo via @hectorlombard)

As reported on yesterday’s edition of UFC Tonight, a high-profile welterweight bout between Hector Lombard and Dong Hyun Kim is expected for an August 23rd UFC Fight Night show at the Cotai Arena in Macau, China.

Lombard is coming off a dominant decision win against Jake Shields at UFC 171 in March, which followed his first-round knockout of Nate Marquardt last October. Kim is riding a four-fight win streak, and most recently knocked out John Hathaway with a spinning back elbow at the TUF China Finale, which also took place at Macau’s Cotai Arena.

Though Lombard had been trying to build heat for a fight against Matt Brown, it seems that the UFC has other plans for “The Immortal” right now. What those plans are remain to be seen, although UFC president Dana White stated last night that he’d happily set up Brown vs. Nick Diaz if Diaz wanted it.

The 8/23 Fight Night show in Macau will likely be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass, and will take place the same day as a FOX Sports 1 card in Tulsa, Oklahoma, God help us.