UFC 81 Fighters Salaries: Paydays for Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tim Sylvia and More
by Dann Stupp on Feb 04, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Despite suffering a first-round submission loss to Frank Mir on Saturday, Brock Lesnar collected a cool quarter-of-a-million dollars in his UFC debut.
The former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion and World Wrestling Entertainment performer was the highest-paid fighter at UFC 81, according to paperwork acquired by MMAjunkie.com from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
UFC 81 took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and aired live on pay-per-view.
Mir earned a base salary of $80,00 for the fight -- which was the fourth-highest behind Lesnar and main-event fighters Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira ($200,000) and Tim Sylvia ($100,000).
The total disclosed payroll for the event was $892,000.
The full list of salaries included:
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira ($200,000) def. Tim Sylvia ($100,000)
Frank Mir ($80,000) def. Brock Lesnar ($250,000)
Nate Marquardt ($52,000) def. Jeremy Horn ($25,000)
Marvin Eastman ($14,000) def. Terry Martin ($12,000)
Rob Emerson ($16,000) def. Keita Nakamura ($5,000)
Nogueira, Sylvia, Lytle and Mir Earn $60,000 UFC 81 "Fight Night" Bonuses
by Dann Stupp on Feb 03, 2008 at 1:47 am
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Tim Sylvia, Chris Lytle and Frank Mir each collected $60,000 "Fight Night" bonuses stemming from their performances at UFC 81.
MMAjunkie.com confirmed the winners and the bonus amounts with sources close to the fighters -- with help from our friends at Yahoo! Sports.
Saturday's event took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event aired live on pay-per-view.
Main-event fighters Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia won Fight of the Night awards, the only bonuses that are awarded to the fight's winner and loser. Rodrigo survived two rounds of abuse to eventually secure a third-round victory submission via guillotine choke. With the win, Rodrigo earned the UFC's interim heavyweight title.
Lytle earned the event's Knockout of the Night bonus for a quick and impressive victory over UFC newcomer Kyle Bradley. As Lytle mentioned in an MMAjunkie.com story earlier this week, he's adopted a new, go-for-broke fighting style that paid huge dividends at Saturday's event. Lytle immediately went on the offensive and tagged and dropped his opponent for the knockout victory just 33 seconds into the first round.
Submission of the Night went to Mir, who posted one of the most remarkable come-from-behind victories in recent UFC history. Former WWE performer and decorated collegiate wrestler Brock Lesnar tossed around and battered his opponent. However, on the brink of defeat, Mir grabbed a leg, tripped Lesnar, and secured a knee bar to force the tap-out at 1:30 of the first round.
The $60,000 bonuses are the biggest in UFC history. Recently, the organization issued $35,000 bonuses for UFC 80, $15,000 bonuses for The Ultimate Fighter 6, and $55,000 bonuses for UFC 79.
UFC 81 Recap: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir Survive Near-Certain Defeat
by Dann Stupp on Feb 03, 2008 at 1:00 am
The heavyweights took center stage in tonight's UFC 81 co-main events, and two fighters on the brink of defeat stormed back for the improbable and stunning victories.
The come-from-behind wins capped off Saturday's nine-fight UFC 81 event, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event aired live on pay-per-view.
In the night's main event, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) made mixed-martial-arts history and became the first MMA fighter ever to win titles in both the UFC and PRIDE by defeating Tim Sylvia (24-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC).
With current heavyweight champ Randy Couture on the outs with the UFC and his future in the organization uncertain, UFC officials opted to award an interim title.
Sylvia, hoping to become the UFC's heavyweight champion for a record third time, dominated the first and second rounds of the fight. Just minutes into the five-round battle, the Team Miletich fighter connected with an uppercut and a left hook that dropped his opponent. Sylvia continued the assault on the ground, and with Nogeuira bloodied and bruised, he told the wounded fighter to stand back up, wanting to avoid the ground with the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. The assault continued for more than two rounds.
Although Nogueira never fully regained his composure, he was relentless with his takedown attempts. He finally scored one in the third, swept his opponent, and then locked in a guillotine choke that forced the stoppage in a matter of seconds.
"That's Mioutauro Nogueira," Sylvia said, almost in disbelief. "Every fight he's in, he gets his ass kicked for the first 10 minutes. You start getting comfortable fighting him, and next thing you know, he catches you. The guy's a legend in this sport."
Although he was in trouble throughout the fight, Nogueira finally felt in control in the third round.
"Once I got to the ground, I was comfortable," Nogueira said. "I was ready for him"
With the belt strapped on, Nogueira made no secret of his wishes for a next fight.
"If Randy Couture -- in the future -- if he can come back to the UFC, I'd love to fight against him," Nogueira said. "Please Randy, fight me."
The defeat was tough to swallow for Sylvia. Never has a fighter come through the UFC who appreciated his champion status more than the Maine native. And never has a fighter so easily and sometimes inexplicably drawn the wrath of fight fans. Just when things looked like they might improve for the beleaguered giant, disaster struck again for Sylvia.
"I just started getting the fans going my way, and I come out here and lose the damn fight," a remorseful Sylvia stated. "Hopefully, I'll be back here real soon (anyway)."
Nogueira, though, wasn't the only fighter who rebounded from near-certain defeat.
The traditionalists and the hardcores will consider it a win for the sport of MMA, but even with the loss, former World Wrestling Entertainment performer Brock Lesnar (1-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) should have the UFC's fellow heavyweights taking notice. Frank Mir (11-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) won the fight, but Lesnar made a much bigger statement.
Lesnar, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion with just one professional MMA fight to his name, scored the quick takedown of Mir and unleashed a brutal barrage of punches and hammerfists. Mir couldn't defend himself, and when the referee jumped in to halt the bout, it looked like Lesnar's first fight in the UFC would be a quick one. Steve Mazzagatti, though, wasn't stopping the fight to award Lesnar a victory -- and instead, issued him a one-point deduction for illegal strikes to the back of Mir's head.
The fight was quickly restarted, and Lesnar again dropped Mir with a combination of punches. He continued the ground-and-pound assault, and Mir was turtling up to protect himself. With Mir battered and bruised, Lesnar stood up from inside his opponent's guard and looked to rain down the final, fight-ending knockout punch. Instead, Mir grabbed his opponent's leg, tripped Lesnar, and cranked his knee. He tried to fend off the submission, but the torque became too much, and Lesnar was forced tap out at 1:30 of the first round.
"We questioned his heart, and I was just trying to get a lot of shots in on him," Lesnar said. "There's no excuses. He's a top-notch jiu-jistu guy, and he got me tonight."
Despite the rookie mistake, Lesnar impressed with his athleticism and power. Mir is one of the sport's bigger heavyweights, and Lesnar tossed him around easily. He was aggressive, and his strikes were powerful and precise. However, the otherwise stellar performance was marred by that gaffe -- the type of frustrating, yet forgivable, mistakes that will disappear with time and experience.
OTHER MAIN-CARD BOUTS
In his first fight since a July 2007 loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt (26-7-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) looked sharp as he controlled veteran Jeremy Horn (79-17-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) throughout the first round, scoring big punches from inside his opponent's guard. Marquardt's only real danger came toward the end of the first round, when Horn secured an arm and nearly forced a tap-out via omoplata.
However, after Horn took him down early in the second round, Marquardt quickly returned to his feet and sunk in a standing guillotine choke. Feeling the effect of choke with the the additional neck crank, Horn was forced to tap out -- for only the third time in his past 42 fights (a stretch of seven years).
Although he ended the fight via submission, Marquardt did a lot of damage with his striking. He peppered Horn with a series of punches and then cracked him with a knee to the head halfway through the first round. However, the aggression did have a drawbreak: Marquardt was cut above his right eye while shooting in for a takedown early in the second round. The cut could have presented problems had he not secured the choke just minutes later.
For Marquardt, a member of the resilient Team Jackson, it was his sixth win in his past even fights -- and a big step toward another shot at the middleweight title.
Ricardo Almeida (9-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) showed no ill effects from a nearly four-year layoff as he quickly disposed of UFC newcomer Rob Yundt (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC).
Yundt, a veteran of the Alaskan Fighting Championship, filled in for Alan Belcher (bronchitis) on just three days' notice, and he just wasn't prepared for Almedia, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whiz. Yundt appeared to sting his opponent with an early uppercut, but Almeida threw a body punch and then scored a quick takedown. After whiffing on an elbow strike, Almeida then locked in a guillotine choke. Yundt tried to slam his way out of it -- actually doing a full front flip in the process -- but Almeida wouldn't break the hold.
Yundt was forced to tap out just 68 seconds into the first round.
Tyson Griffin (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) pushed the pace and continually looked for the knockout punch, but in the end, he had to settle for the shutout unanimous-decision victory over Gleison Tibau (15-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC).
Griffin wanted to keep the fight standing, and he used leg and body kicks to tag Tibau to set up punches to the head and body. Tibau continually scored takedowns throughout the fight, but Griffin easily escaped before any damage was done.
Perhaps used to Griffin's consistent fight-of-the-night performances, the crowd actually booed the decision, prompting the youngster to apologize for the performance -- despite winning 30-27 on all three judges' scorecards. The victory also snapped Tibau's three-fight win streak in the UFC.
PRELIMINARY FIGHTS
Longtime fighter and professional boxer Chris Lytle (25-15-5 MMA, 4-7 UFC) made short work of newcomer Kyle Bradley (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who managed to fire off just one punch. Lytle countered with a jab and a series of hooks before his opponent tumbled to the canvas for a knockout loss just 33 seconds into the first round.
UFC newcomer and former IFL fighter Tim Boetsch (7-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made the most of his opportunity in the UFC and delivered fellow light heavyweight David Heath (7-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) his third consecutive loss. Boetsch set the tempo in the first round, showing phenomenal balance as he frustrated Heath with straight kicks and body punches. Eventually, though, he used the Thai clinch and a knee to the face to score the TKO victory at 4:52 of the first round.
One of the sport's hardest-working men finally got his first UFC win as Chicago-area prison guard Marvin Eastman outscored Terry Martin (16-4 MMA, 2-4 UFC). Expected to be a slugfest, the pace of the fight was at times gruesome as both fighters continually clinched and waited for the referee to separate them. In the end, though, Eastman took it by scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27.
"The Ultimate Fighter 5" cast member Rob Emerson (7-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC) registered his first career UFC win by registering a close split-decision victory over Keita Nakamura (14-3-2 MMA, 0-3 UFC). Two judges had it 30-27 for Emerson, and the third had it 29-28 for Nakamura. With his third straight defeat in the UFC, Nakamura is unlikely to compete in the organization again anytime soon.
FULL RESULTS
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Tim Sylvia via submission (guillotine choke) -- Round 3, 1:28
Frank Mir def. Brock Lesnar via submission (knee bar) -- Round 1, 1:30
Nate Marquardt def. Jeremy Horn via submission (guillotine choke) -- Round 2, 1:37
Ricardo Almeida def. Rob Yundt via submission (guillotine choke) -- Round 1, 1:08
Chris Lytle def. Kyle Bradley via KO (strikes) -- Round 1, 0:33
Tim Boetsch def. David Heath via TKO (strikes) -- Round 1, 4:52
Marvin Eastman def. Terry Martin via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Rob Emerson def. Keita Nakamura via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
UFC 81: It's Not Over 'Til It's Over!
UFC 81 was a historic night that heavily impacted the heavyweight division in the UFC. In one of the night’s co-main events, former UFC champ Frank Mir fought former WWE star Brock Lesnar. Lesnar a NCAA All-American wrestler, left his career in the WWE to test his skills in the octagon. Although extremely inexperienced, Lesnar has the size, strength and athletic ability to make an impact on the division immediately.
The fight began with a quick takedown by Lesnar, which he followed with a barrage of punches that gave you the sense that Mir was in serious trouble. Although controversial at the time, Thirty seconds into the fight referee, Steve Mazzagatti, stopped the fight making many believe Lesnar was victorious in his UFC debut. To the surprise of many, he was actually deducting a point from Lesnar because of continuous strikes to the back of Mir’s head.
The fight resumed with both fighters on their feet, and Lesnar quickly dropped Mir with a punch that put him back in control of the fight on the ground. Mir although taking a severe beating, kept his composure on the ground and stayed with his game plan. He attempted a couple arm bars that were unsuccessful despite the punishment he took from Lesnar. A little over a minute into the fight his constant effort paid off when Lesnar made a rookie mistake and tried to stand up to deliver what might have been the final blow to his opponent. Mir transitioned into a knee bar that Lesnar was not able to react to in time, and seconds later Lesnar was on the mat tapping out.
This fight answered two questions that many people wanted to find out. First off, Frank Mir proved to many people who doubted him that he still has what it takes to compete in the UFC and work his way back to a title shot. It also proved that Brock Lesnar is the real deal, and with some more octagon experience, he could be the future of the UFC’s heavyweight division.
In the other main event on the fight card, former Pride heavyweight champ, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia faced off to become the interim heavyweight champ. The fight was considered an interim title because Randy Couture still has the belt despite parting ways with the UFC due to disagreements with the organization and other opportunities outside of fighting.
This fight would have made Tim Sylvia the second person in the UFC to hold a belt three times and would have made Nogueira the first person to be a heavyweight champion in both the UFC and Pride. With those records on the line, the two men gave it their all in the octagon.
For the first two rounds Sylvia dominated the former Pride champ. Sylvia kept the fight on his feet and Nogueira looked defeated going into the third round. The third round got under way and soon after Nogueira got the takedown he needed and sunk in a guillotine choke that made Sylvia immediately tap.
Nogueira has been known throughout his career to take a beating before ending a fight with a quick submission. Sylvia knew this, but still made the mistake.
The future of the UFC’s heavyweight division is unknown with Couture’s departure, but UFC 81 was proof it still has some of the best fighters in the world competing in it.
Dave Hiza “Between Rounds”
Brock Lesnar Debuts at UFC 81 - Is He The Real Deal?
by Dave Hiza
February 2, 2008 will be the date of the long awaited debut of former professional wrestler, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar will be taking on former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in one of two main events that evening.
Brock Lesnar was a four-time NCAA All-American wrestler. Since making the move to MMA, Lesnar is 1-0 with a victory over Min Soo Kim by submission (via strikes) in just over a minute in a K-1 event last June. If Lesnar can prove himself in the cage against a legitimate opponent like Frank Mir, he will add some much needed depth to the heavyweight division.
UFC 81 Interim Heavyweight Title Bout
by Dave Hiza
UFC 81 will deliver an interim heavyweight title bout between former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim "The Mainiac" Sylvia, and former Pride heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, in the co-main event that also has a bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir.
This fight is slated as an interim title fight because the belt still belongs to Randy "The Natural" Couture, who unofficially resigned from the UFC due to their inability to sign Fedor Emelianenko, disputes with UFC management, as well as opportunities outside of the octagon.
With a victory, Tim Sylvia can become the second fighter in UFC history to hold the heavyweight title three times. On the other hand, Nogueira can become the first fighter ever to be crowned the heavyweight champion in both Pride and the UFC.
The fight will be interesting due to the clash of styles between the two fighters. Tim Sylvia will be looking to keep the fight standing and look for the knockout, while his opponent, Nogueira, will be looking for the takedown and quick submission victory. Only time will tell which man pulls off the victory and goes home wearing the heavyweight interim belt.
