(“Sorry, God. I didn’t ask to be this awesome.” Props: UFC.com)

The UFC paid out $838,000 in disclosed payouts and bonuses to the fighters at Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event, according to figures released by Wisconsin’s Department of Safety and Professional Services. Chris “The Bonus Snatcher” Lytle and Donald Cerrone were the only competitors who broke the six-figure mark, with Dan Hardy’s haul landing just short.

The numbers are below; keep in mind that they don’t include additional income from sponsorships and undisclosed “locker room” bonuses, or deductions for taxes, insurance, and licensing fees.

Chris Lytle: $200,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Dan Hardy: $90,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Ben Henderson: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
def. Jim Miller: $35,000

Donald Cerrone: $109,000 (includes $22,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Charles Oliveira: $12,000

(If only our last day at the office could be this satisfying. Also, what’s up with the little bunny on Dan’s shorts? Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

After Dan Hardy tapped to a Chris Lytle guillotine choke last night at UFC on Versus 5 — Hardy’s fourth consecutive loss within the Octagon — many fans assumed that the Outlaw would be released by the UFC to get a couple of tune-up wins somewhere else. But Hardy doesn’t have to start updating his resume just yet. UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta confirmed via Twitter that Hardy won’t be cut. His reasoning: “I like guys that WAR!!!”

That’s great news for the former welterweight title contender. The question is, does Hardy even want another chance? Winless since 2009, Hardy appears to be in no rush to get back on the horse. As he told MMA Junkie:

“I think if they are going to give me one more fight, then I really need to take some time and come back reinvented…There are a lot of things I can do. But right now, I need space from competing, and I need space in the gym getting beaten up by much better guys in every area. I’ll either improve or find another way. If I’ve got one more fight, then I’ll take one more fight. But maybe it won’t be for a little while…“

Seriously, is this intimidating to anyone?  Either of them?  PicProps: MMAJunkie (obviously)

The UFC is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tonight for a live show on Versus, with some really good fighters on tap from the Facebook fights beginning the evening to the veterans retiring after putting on one more show.

I’ll start updating shortly with the Facebook fights, and we go live with the Versus show at 9PM ET.  Come on in early and start drinking; i’m way funnier that way.  Also, hit F5 on your keyboard to refresh often.  It won’t make me work any faster, but something funny might happen.

For discussion:

What’s next for Hardy if he comes up short?

With Jim Miller – Ben Henderson on the card to remind us of the logjam at 155, how can we make sense of the lightweight division?

And shouldn’t Clay Guida still be carrying around the WEC belt?  Because that would be dope.

OK, Nation, it’s my first time so take it easy on me. Mmmkay?

[RX]

(Props: king981)

Since Sunday night’s UFC on Versus 5 broadcast will be led off by Duane Ludwig‘s welterweight battle with Amir Sadollah — we’ll be liveblogging the action starting at 9 p.m. ET, by the way — we figured we’d look back at one of Bang’s classic knockouts that you might not have seen before. On January 25th, 2003, Ludwig (8-2) faced off with former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver (14-2-1) in Montreal for UCC’s vacant lightweight title. After vacating his UFC title the previous year, Pulver had won his first two fights outside of the organization and was looking to pick up another scalp and another belt. It didn’t quite work out like that.

About 12 seconds into the fight, Ludwig leveled Pulver with a massive right hand. Pulver managed to struggle to his feet, and Yves Lavigne broke the fighters after a brief clinch. From there it’s all Duane — a body shot, head kick, and a right-straight finisher that dropped Pulver and actually had him rolling out of the ring to avoid more damage. As the commentator puts it, ”Jens Pulver might be ‘Little Evil’, but Duane Ludwig is a shepherd for the devil.” The dramatic victory earned Ludwig a shot in the UFC, where he out-pointed Genki Sudo in his debut at UFC 42.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Less than two months after his Fight of the Night/no-contest against Nik Lentz, Charles Oliveira will be returning to the Octagon to face Donald Cerrone in the main card of this Sunday’s UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle event, replacing an injured Paul Taylor. Brazilian UFC reporter Paula Sack checked in with the 21-year-old phenom during his preparations in Sao Paulo, which seem to be going pretty well. Cerrone is also coming in on a relatively short turnaround, a little over two months after his decision win over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131. Does ‘Do Bronx’ have a shot at stopping Cowboy’s four-fight win streak?

After the jump: Paula Sack’s Maxim Brazil cover, via Fightlinker.

(“I’d rather lose the best fight of my life than win the worst.” Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

On August 14th, Chris Lytle will step into the Octagon for the 20th time in his career, when he squares off against Dan Hardy at the aptly-named UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It will be Lytle’s first-ever headlining bout for the UFC — as well as an opportunity to re-claim the title of “Most Bonus-Worthy Fighter in UFC History.” (He currently shares the honor with Anderson Silva and Joe Lauzon.) We recently spoke to “Lights Out” about some of his most memorable UFC fights, his upcoming scrap against Hardy, his crowd-pleasing style, and the tough lessons he’s learned along the way. Enjoy…

CHRIS LYTLE vs. BEN EARWOOD — Lytle’s UFC debut
UFC 28, 11/17/00
Result: Defeat via unanimous decision

“I’d been fighting for less than two years at the time, but as soon as I started training, I got really involved in watching the UFC. I knew who all the key guys were and I knew it was the pinnacle of the sport, so it was my goal to be there. We only fought two five-minute rounds [at UFC 28], and they’d started having fighters wear gloves not too long before, so it was just way different. Earwood was more of a wrestler — he just tried to hold me down. I don’t think they stood us up once.

Back then I was training with Jason Godsey and a few other guys maybe two or three times a week. Every one of us had real jobs, full-time jobs, and this was something we did for fun. I definitely felt like we were good fighters — Jason was King of Pancrase, and beat a lot of good guys — but we didn’t train every day. And after that fight I kind of realized…I didn’t feel like Earwood was any better of a fighter than me, I just felt like he had a better gameplan than I did, he stuck with it, and he trained more than I did.

(When Donald was finished with his country-glam-rock version of “Home Sweet Home,” there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Mostly because the audience had all left by then. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

It’s kind of a long story, but due to a series of injuries and replacements, a lightweight prelim between John Makdessi and Paul Taylor slated for UFC on Versus 5 (August 14th, Milwaukee) eventually morphed into an even more compelling matchup between lanky cowboy-hatted veteran Donald Cerrone and young submission ace Charles Oliveira. That’s the good news. The even-better news is that Cerrone vs. Oliveira has been bumped to the event’s main card due to its awesomeness.

Cerrone is on a four-fight win streak, which includes submission victories over Chris Horodecki and Paul Kelly, but caught some criticism in his last outing — a lopsided decision victory over Vagner Rocha at UFC 131 — for arguably playing it safe rather than going for a finish. Meanwhile, Oliveira’s last victory was recently overturned to a no-contest due to the fact that he set up his rear-naked choke submission against Nik Lentz with a very blatant illegal knee, which everybody in the building spotted except for the referee.

After the jump, the full lineup for UFC on Versus 5, which looks pretty damn entertaining for a free card.

I’m not going near this caption. If you want one, you supply it.

It took nearly two years for Ed Herman to bounce back from the knee injury he sustained in his loss to Aaron Simpson, but following his KO win over Tim Credeur last month he’ll return to the cage in short order. The UFC has announced that “Short Fuse” will step up to replace the injured Tom Lawlor at next month’s “UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle”.

Standing across the cage from Herman will be fellow TUF alumnus Kyle Noke. The Australian is on a five-fight tear, stopping all three of his UFC opponents and handing two their walking papers in the process. While Herman was undoubtedly happy with the quick return to the win column against Credeur, we’ll see if 48-seconds was enough to shake off two years of ring rust. This fight will tip Herman toward a winning or losing UFC record; he is currently perched at an uncomfortable 5-5 in his Zuffa career.