(Careful, Clay. She’s just after the money. / Photo courtesy of the UFC on Versus Afterparty Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)
 
The UFC paid out $913,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for last Sunday’s UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones show — a hefty total for a free-TV event — with Junior Dos Santos, Cheick Kongo, and Clay Guida cracking the six-figure mark. The numbers are below, courtesy of MMA Junkie. Keep in mind that they don’t include income from sponsorships and undisclosed "locker room bonuses," or deductions for taxes, insurance, licensing fees, and funny hats.

Jon Jones: $90,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Brandon Vera: $60,000

Junior Dos Santos: $120,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Gabriel Gonzaga: $67,000

Cheick Kongo: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)
def. Paul Buentello: $40,000

Alessio Sakara: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus)
def. James Irvin: $20,000

Clay Guida: $100,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus, $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Shannon Gugerty: $9,000

(Photo courtesy of MMA Fighting.)
 
So, weird night, huh? The main card of UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones gave us two fights where guys were docked points for illegal blows, two fights that ended with the losers grabbing their eyes in pain, Cheick Kongo transforming into a boring wrestler, and referees being applauded for their brilliant decisions. I’m still waiting for the hail of frogs. And here’s another bit of strangeness: The UFC decided to hand out three Knockout of the Night bonuses after the show, but no Fight of the Night bonuses. The $50,000 bumps went to the following scrappers…

Knockout of the Night #1: Jon Jones, for caving in Brandon Vera‘s head with an elbow that came from an acceptable clock-position.

Knockout of the Night #2: Junior Dos Santos, for wasting Gabriel Gonzaga and picking up his fifth-straight KO/TKO in the UFC.

Knockout of the Night #3: John Howard, for starching Daniel Roberts in the only prelim fight that was shown on the broadcast.

Submission of the Night: Clay Guida, for his arm-triangle tap of Shannon Gugerty. (Who else are they gonna give it to, Kongo for submitting Paul Buentello via leg-elbows?)

Some important notes from the press conference:

(Sure, he lives in an RV and has creepy facial hair, but trust us, Clay’s a fantastic babysitter. Photo courtesy of MMA Junkie.)

Spoilers after the jump…

(You should see the other guy. Seriously, not a mark on him.)

First off, an announcement for MMA FightPicker prize-pool participants: Due to a technical screw-up on our end, we had to clear your tie-breaker answers so we could put up answer-fields that actually made sense. All of you should have been contacted via e-mail by now, but in case this is news to you, please revisit your prize pool(s) and make sure you have the tie-breaker question entered. We’d like to give a hearty "Nice, Player!" to everybody who entered those prize pools to win the gear from MMAWarehouse.com. As of now, there are two spots remaining in the 1,200-chip 10-person pool, and an infinite number of spots remaining in the Unlimited pool.

This week, BF and BG snuck into Contender Pool 10 #787, where they’ll be competing with perennial contender Ryan Johnson and someone named RaWrBoOm. As for the questions, there seem to be a lot of heavy favorites this time around. Who of you will be ballsy enough to pick the upsets? Certainly not us — BF and BG had a difference of opinion on just one question. We should really change the name of "Ben vs. Ben" to "Ben and Ben are Best Friends and Never Argue." Anyway, here’s how we’re picking ‘em for UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones this Sunday on Versus (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)…

Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones: Who will win?
BF: Unless Jones gets himself DQ’d or suffers a stroke on his way to the cage, he’s got this. Vera can’t strike with him and can’t get him down. Cue the spinning back elbow.
BG: Jon Jones via spinning Superman punches and Greco rag-dolling. He’s just more special then Vera, y’know?

Will Vera vs. Jones end in a KO/TKO?
BF: I hate hemming myself in with an answer that has one way to be right and at least two ways to be wrong, but I gotta say yes. I see Vera getting dropped and finished with a flurry on the mat.
BG: Yep. The fight ends with Jones on top and Vera eating leather and elbow-bone.

In case you missed it on Monday, we have something very special going on this week over at the ol’ FightPicker. MMAWarehouse.com has given us $200 fight-gear packages to give away to the winners of the two prize pools that are currently running. (They’re at the top of the Open Pools page — you can’t miss ‘em.) So far, 33 players have entered the 250-chip Unlimited pool for a shot at the Hayabusa fight gloves, TapouT mouthguards, Sprawl Fusion-S fight shorts, and Manto rash guard. But only three high-rollers have entered the 10-person pool for Big Boys; we need three more players to join by Friday or the thing will be canceled, so please, do whatever you can to get enough chips together and join the action. As for the rest of you, predicting the number of knockdowns in the first round of Kongo vs. Buentello will have to be its own reward.

Extra note, for everybody who joined one of the prize pools on Monday: We were late in getting the tie-breaker question up, so please revisit your pools and make sure you’ve answered it. Good luck everybody, and thanks again to MMA Warehouse!

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Jon Jones is at that point of his career where the nut-hugging is at its most pure and intense. In the first few minutes of this Countdown video for next Sunday’s UFC on Versus show, everyone from Joe Rogan to Dana White to Rashad Evans to Greg Jackson describe Bones as a freakishly athletic star with a perfect mindset, unbelievable talent, and endless potential. But frankly, Brandon Vera has heard it all before: "Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, the second comin’ of Jesus Christ…I don’t believe all the hype, and ‘Oh, he’s the next this, that,’ man I’ve seen that happen to so many fighters. It happened to me. I started believing the hype and I started losing fights." 

Vera is as curious as the rest of us are about what Jones is truly capable of, and feels it’s hard to gauge how good Jones is because his competition hasn’t been world-class. "Matt Hamill was supposed to be the first guy to really test me," Jones points out, "And it wasn’t much of a test." Still, Jones sees himself as the underdog in this fight, which means he probably hasn’t checked out the betting lines yet.