(Chael Sonnen explains that it’s the Ultimate *Fighting* Championship, not the Ultimate Mitt-Hitting, High-Altitude Training, Flipping a Tire Around, Screaming the Word "Yes" Championship. Props: MMA Fighting)

Following an expectation-exceeding night of action at UFC 109, the UFC handed out $60,000 pay-bumps to the following competitors:

Fight of the Night: Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt, for their bloody 15-minute grind, in which Sonnen survived a nasty choke attempt in the third round to secure the decision victory and earn a middleweight title shot.

Knockout of the Night: Matt Serra, for beating down Frank Trigg and proving that his hands are always dangerous, even if they’re on the end of very short arms.

Submission of the Night: Paulo Thiago, for putting Mike Swick to sleep with a D’Arce choke after knocking him to the mat in the second round of their fight. Thiago: 2, AKA: 1.

In other news…


Mark Coleman may have reached the end of the road as a UFC fighter. During the post-event press conference, Dana White told reporters:

As for a grudge match between Coleman and Tito Ortiz — who taunted Coleman after the main event — White isn’t interested. "Tito is a lot younger than him, and Tito’s talking shit to Coleman after Coleman just lost the fight that he’s wanted his whole life," White said. "Tito’s fighting Chuck. I’m not even thinking about Tito-Coleman."

Speaking of firings, Fox Fight Game’s Mike Straka asked Dana White if Frank Trigg was in any danger after picking up his second-straight stoppage loss in the UFC, to which Dana responded "probably, yeah, I would say so."

Questions for your MMA discussion groups:
– Who should Randy Couture fight next?
– Should Rolles Gracie commit seppuku after disgracing his family’s name with his garbage-ass performance against the Mexicutioner?
– When Mike Goldberg said that Phil Davis vs. Jon Jones would be an "explosive matchup," did anybody else LOL?