December 30, 2007
UFC Issues $200,000 in UFC 79 Fighter Bonuses
Eddie Sanchez earned $50,000 for Knockout of the Night, Georges St. Pierre earned $50,000 for Submission of the Night Bonus, and Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva each earned $50,000 for Fight of the Night at Saturday’s UFC 79 event.The news of the bonuses came out of Saturday’s post-UFC 79 press conference and was confirmed by a handful of MMAjunkie.com sources on hand for the event.
UFC 79 took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and aired live on pay-per-view. The event drew 11,075 attendees for a $4.9 million gate.
Saturday’s UFC 79 event, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, earned a $4.9 million gate — the largest U.S. MMA gate figure in 2007, according to UFC President Dana White.White confirmed the numbers in a post-UFC 79 press conference.
Additionally, White said the official attendance for Saturday’s pay-per-view event was 11,075 and that another 1,311 fans watched the event on closed-circuit television at Mandalay Bay. (There was no word on how many people attended a UFC 79 watch party at New York City’s Madison Square Garden that was hosted by UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra.)
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Melvin Guillard vs. Rich Clementi Click here to Download
Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Mohr: Click Here To Download
Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Sokoudjou Click Here To Download
Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell: Click Here To Download
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre: Click Here To Download
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (23-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (30-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will meet at UFC 81 — for a five-round championship fight that earns the winner the UFC’s interim (not “vacant”) heavyweight title.The announcement was made during Saturday’s UFC 79 pay-per-view broadcast. MMAjunkie.com first mentioned the rumored bout earlier this month.UFC 81 takes place Feb. 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. With the Sylvia-Nogueira booking now official, a heavyweight bout between former UFC heavyweight champ Frank Mir and UFC newcomer (and former WWE performer) Brock Lesnar has been bumped to co-main-event status.
By Clark Arroyo, mmavideoz.com
I was really looking forward to this fight card. It was tough luck that the NFL had the biggest game in years (that includes every Super Bowl maybe ever!).
Everyone I’ve spoken to for the last week kept talking about Liddell vs. Silva. I was so hyped for them to get it on, nothing else mattered. My kid stayed in stinky diapers until the fight was over. Both fighters came out with a lot of respect for each other, circling ring center. I was very surprised that Silva did not do much kicking. Liddell was giving ground waiting for the typical Silva attack so he could counter. The counter is what has made Liddell as great as he is. He is patient, and again he proved to be just that and then bam he caught Silva with a right and shook him badly. Silva backed up to the fence and very gamely fought off the Liddell onslaught, and bought enough time to clear his head. Silva was really trying to get used to Liddell’s speed, style and timing. Silva didn’t work on setting an agenda in the first round and couldn’t really touch Liddell with his hooking punches. Liddell keeps telegraphing his right hand, and his corner scolds him for it. Round to Liddell easily
QUICK-MATCH RESULTS
-Mark Bocek def. Doug Evans via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after 3 Rounds.
-Roan Carneiro def. Tony DeSouza via TKO (ref stoppage – strikes) at 3:30 of Round 2.
-Dean Lister def. Jordan Radev via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) after 3 Rounds.
-Manny Gamburyan def. Nate Mohr via Submission (ankle lock) at 1:31 of Round 1.
-James Irvin def. Luis Cane via Disqualification (knee on ground) at 1:51 of Round 1.
