(Somebody should have warned Jose about those adjustable-rate mortgages. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Zuffa dished out $595,500 in disclosed salaries and bonuses to the fighters at Saturday’s "Aldo vs. Faber" event, with the end-of-night bonus winners coming out way ahead of the pack. Check out the numbers below, and keep in mind that they don’t include additional income from sponsorships or undisclosed "locker room bonuses," or deductions from insurance, licensing fees, or cornrow maintenance.

Jose Aldo: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Urijah Faber: $28,000

Ben Henderson: $91,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Donald Cerrone: $14,000

Manny Gamburyan: $101,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Mike Brown: $21,000

Shane Roller: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Anthony Njokuani: $7,000

(Have an AMP energy drink, Urijah. You’ve earned it. / Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.)

According to new reports on Heavy and f4wonline, early estimates indicate that Saturday’s "Aldo vs. Faber" event generated between 150,000 and 200,000 buys. In other words (assuming the estimates are accurate), the WEC’s first attempt at pay-per-view was a smashing success. A couple points to put those numbers in perspective:

— 150k-200k is not too far off from the 240,000 buys that UFC 110 pulled in, with its roster full of MMA stars.
— Affliction did no more than 100,000 buys with its first event.

As a starting point for WEC-product on pay-per-view, it’s very encouraging, and proves that Zuffa knows how to promote and package their fights. Now that fans know the WEC is worth their money, Zuffa is in an even better position for the next time they want to charge us. Of course, the lineup has to be just as compelling as "Aldo vs. Faber"’s. At this point, what could the WEC offer to make you shell out another $45? Urijah Faber vs. Miguel Torres as a co-headliner seems like a no-brainer to me…

Related:
– Urijah Faber’s leg is still nasty-looking.
– Ratings for the "Aldo vs. Faber" prelims broadcast on Spike shot up during the Garcia vs. Jung fight.

(Chan Sung Jung reacts to his decision loss to Leonard Garcia on Saturday night. We feel your pain, buddy. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.)

— WEC’s fighters are already seeing some benefits from their promotion’s first foray into pay-per-view. Though performance bonuses have totaled just $10,000 for recent WEC events, Zuffa handed out end-of-night bumps worth $65,000 following WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber. Picking up the hefty checks were: Leonard Garcia and Chan Sung Jung for their epic Fight of the Night brawl that ended in a controversial decision win for Garcia; Manny Gamburyan for shocking the world with his first-round Knockout of the Night against Mike Brown; and reigning lightweight champ Ben Henderson, for his quick guillotine choke Submission of the Night over Donald Cerrone.

— Only one bout from the 11-fight card didn’t get airtime on Saturday night: Former bantamweight title challenger Takeya Mizugaki handed Rani Yahya his second straight loss during the prelims, edging out the Brazilian by unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27).

— Dana White was so hot on Jose Aldo after Saturday night’s main event that he’s already talking about a three-title reign. "I had heard that he wants to move down a weight class, win that belt and then go to 155 to fight BJ in the UFC," White said during the post-event press conference. "If he can do that, I don’t know if he can cut that weight and make that light a weight division, but he’d be the first guy to win three titles in three different weight divisions." We’re all for ludicrously overblown hype, but can we wait until Aldo makes a couple more title defenses in his own division first?

("Due to my contract with No Fear, I am legally forbidden from pissing my pants right now." / Photo courtesy of the WEC 48: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.)

Sure, we’re calling it a WEC event, but things will be running a little differently tonight: Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg are handling commentary, Chandella is co-headlining the ring girl pit, and the fighter introductions will be delivered by the sensual vocal stylings of Bruce Buffer. Plus, you’re paying for it, which would be a bummer if the card wasn’t so stacked. In the headlining slots: Jose Aldo makes his first featherweight belt defense against former champ Urijah Faber, and lightweight champ Ben Henderson tries to make it 2-0 against cowboy-hatted nemesis Donald Cerrone. Plus: Mike Brown, Anthony Njokuani, Scott Jorgensen, Leonard Garcia, and a man known as "The Korean Zombie" will all be fighting for your entertainment. Round-by-round "Aldo vs. Faber" results can be found after the jump starting at 9 p.m. ET; refresh the page every few minutes for all the gruesome details.

("I expect biased media coverage in Sacramento. But no Get Fuzzy on the comics page? What the fuck is wrong with this town?" / Photo courtesy of the WEC 48: Out and About in Sac gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Just wanted to let y’all know that we’ll be liveblogging WEC: Aldo vs. Faber tomorrow beginning with the Spike TV prelims broadcast at 9 p.m. ET, and continuing to the pay-per-card at 10 p.m. So swing by as the WEC makes history/rapes our wallets, and let us know how you feel.

Speaking of which, have you made your WEC 48 FightPicker predictions yet? The currency may be fake — but the excitement is as real as it gets.

(Fun fact: Jose Aldo got that scar when he was a baby, after his sisters rolled him onto a barbecue pit. Well, maybe that’s not so much a "fun" fact as a completely horrifying one. Depends on your definition of fun, I guess. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Now that some of you are sitting on hefty tax returns from defrauding the government while in prison, it’s time to see if we can turn those little nest eggs into big, throbbing piles of money. WEC 48 is this Saturday — only on Pay Per View! — and there are plenty of opportunities to beat the oddsmakers. But before we share our red-hot, sure-thing, can’t-miss tips*, let’s take a look at the betting lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com…

MAIN CARD
Jose Aldo (-295) vs. Urijah Faber (+289)
Ben Henderson (even) vs. Donald Cerrone (-110)
Mike Brown (-600) vs. Manny Gamburyan (+500)
Shane Roller (-140) vs. Anthony Njokuani (+115)
Scott Jorgensen (-250) vs. Antonio Banuelos (+230)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Leonard Garcia (-130) vs. Chan Sung Jung (+110)
Anthony Pettis (-550) vs. Alex Karalexis (+505) 
Brad Pickett (-127) vs. Demetrious Johnson (even)
Chad Mendes (-465) vs. Anthony Morrison (+375)
Takeya Mizugaki (-150) vs. Rani Yahya (+130)
Brandon Visher (-300) vs. Tyler Toner (+240)

* We kindly request that you don’t consult previous editions of the Gambling Enabler to verify this claim.

Damn, a lot of surprises here…

(Left: The poster for this Saturday’s WEC event. Right: Proof of BG’s FightPicker superiority.)

Props to Jeremy Hill for winning the MMA fan package in last week’s MMA FightPicker prize pool — and special props to myself for taking first place in my final head-to-head pool against BF, despite getting four of the questions wrong. It was that kind of week, I guess. (What happened, Dan Quinn’s Tramp Stamp? Put all your eggs in the Tim Stout basket?) Anyway, I hope this eases the rest of your concerns about the sound leadership of CagePotato.com, in the absence of you-know-who.

There’s no prize pool in effect this week on MMA FightPicker, but every week presents new opportunities to claw your way up the leaderboard and challenge the dominance of Aaron Rampey, who frankly seems to be getting a little too comfortable in first place. Perennial contender surf_finland trails him by just 437 PotatoChips at the moment, while nismo17, herbaliser, and Nick Allen TheBrave round out the FightPicker top 5. Take a look at this week’s WEC 48-related questions after the jump, then head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com to make your picks!

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Just a week after we learned that Stephan Bonnar is permanently replacing Frank Mir as color-commentator for the WEC, it’s been announced that the UFC’s Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg will be handling the talking-head duties for WEC 48. Headlined by the featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber, and the lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, WEC 48 will be the organization’s first attempt at charging a shitload of money for their product. You may have already noticed that the show’s video promos feature Dana White and Joe Rogan — not anybody directly related to the WEC — and for the most part, the UFC will be promoting this card. Sorry, Reed. As soon as it’s time to promote your next not-nearly-as-relevant event, it’s all you again

The presence of Joe and Mike won’t be the only similarity between WEC 48 and a UFC pay-per-view. Apparently, Spike TV will be broadcasting two fights from the preliminary card, directly before the PPV broadcast: Former featherweight title challenger Leonard Garcia will welcome "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung into the WEC, while UFC vet Alex Karalexis faces off against Anthony Pettis, who scored the Knockout of the Night at WEC 47.

(Props: YouTube.com/MMAVids10)

Hey guys, who wants to see a classic striker vs. grappler battle? The extended preview for UFC 112 (April 10th, Abu Dhabi) tries to sell us on the idea that Demian Maia‘s nasty jits poses an undeniable threat to Anderson Silva. Not that Maia’s grappling ability is exaggerated, but if Nate Marquardt can send Maia into orbit before the fight gets to the ground, Anderson certainly can as well. Speaking of outmatched challengers, UFC 112 also features Frankie Edgar‘s first title fight against lightweight living legend BJ Penn. Joe Rogan shouts out Edgar’s speed, intelligence and wrestling ability and says he presents "a very unique challenge to BJ Penn." But does he have any real advantages? Keep in mind that Penn hasn’t been taken down by a lightweight since Takanori Gomi, six and a half years ago. At least the third fight on the card isn’t a squash match: Renzo Gracie vows to do to Matt Hughes what Matt did to his cousin Royce in 2006. Which old master still has what it takes to compete in the year 2010?

After the jump: Dana and Joe put in some overtime to hype the lightweight title rematch between Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone, which goes down April 24th at WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber.

(You know that fight we let you see for free last October? Any interest in paying a lot of money to see it again? Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

After threatening the move for a year-and-a-half, the WEC announced today that it will officially be putting an event on pay-per-view in April, seriously, for real this time. WEC 48 (April 24th, Sacramento), will be headlined by the featherweight title fight between reigning champion Jose Aldo and former champ Urijah Faber, with the lightweight title rematch between Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone in the co-headlining spot; also, Mike Brown will continue his path back up the 145-pound ladder with a scrap against Manny Gamburyan.

In return, the WEC is boldly asking that you shell out $44.99, or four cents more than the standard price for a UFC PPV show – which feels a little presumptuous, considering the promotion is low on genuine stars and it’s the first time that a WEC broadcast hasn’t been free. Of course, if there’s any WEC event that’s worthy of your money, it’s this one, and hardcore MMA fans know that the WEC may put on the most consistently entertaining events on the planet. Still, is that enough to justify a $45 reaming? In this economy? Check out the poll on the right side of the homepage, and let us know how you feel. Any predictions for how many buys this card will take in?