Yves Edwards, Cody McKenzie and Melvin Guillard took home bonus awards of $30,000 – and Edwards picked up a pair for a total of $60,000.
Edwards put a stop to McKenzie's unprecedented 10-fight streak of guillotine victories to win the Submission of the Night bonus for his rear naked choke tapout. And the lightweights also brought home the Fight of the Night award. Guillard won Knockout of the Night for his barrage of knees against Evan Dunham in the main event.
The event's first four bouts went to decisions. But the last two preliminary fights ended in submissions, and the last three fights on the main card ended with knockouts.
Guillard's win was his fourth straight. He said at the post-fight press conference he believes he should be next in line for the UFC's lightweight title – but is prepared to fight whoever and whenever the UFC asks.
Dunham was coming off a controversial split decision loss to Sean Sherk at UFC 119 in September – a loss that UFC president Dana White said he only acknowledged as a loss on paper. But with the loss to Guillard, he has two straight setbacks after being one of the most touted prospects in the 155-pound division.
Source: mmafighting.com
The UFC president, speaking Friday at a Q&A session for enlisted military personnel on the Fort Hood base, noted that former champions Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz are both in must-win situations in their next fights.
Machida beat Rashad Evans to win the light heavyweight title at UFC 98. He defended the belt with a controversial decision win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 104, but lost it to him in their rematch at UFC 113 last May – his first career loss. Machida followed up that knockout setback with a split decision loss to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 123 in November.
Machida will fight UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, a former two-division champion, at UFC 129 in Toronto in April. A loss to Couture would be three straight for the Brazilian – which often signals a quick release from the UFC.
"He's had two losses in a row," White told the troops. "Right after he won the title, (UFC on-air analyst Joe) Rogan said this is 'The Machida Era,' and I thought so too. Then Shogun beat him, and then he just lost to Rampage. Now he's fighting Randy Couture in Toronto – and this is a must-win for him."
In addition, White said Ortiz, once one of the most dominant champions in UFC history, could be reaching the end of his career. Ortiz is scheduled for a main event fight on the UFC's Fight Night 24 card in Seattle in March against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
"Tito's got to win this fight to stay in the UFC," White said. "If he loses this fight, he'll probably retire."
Ortiz has not won a fight since 2006, when he won a split decision over Forrest Griffin. Earlier that year, he had a pair of TKOs against Ken Shamrock. At UFC 66, Ortiz lost to Chuck Liddell in an attempt to reclaim the light heavyweight title he held and defended five times in the early 2000s. A draw against Evans followed, his only fight in 2007. Then came a loss to Machida, his only fight in 2008. That fight was thought to be his last in the UFC courtesy of a highly public feud with White.
But Ortiz returned at UFC 106 after he and White settled their differences. He lost a split decision, though, to Griffin, his only fight in 2009. And in his only fight in 2010, Ortiz lost to his former pupil on "The Ultimate Fighter," Matt Hamill, at UFC 121. He has been plagued by back injuries, including surgeries in an attempt to alleviate the problems.
White also said the injury to current light heavyweight champion Rua has helped create a bit of a cluster in the division. Rua defends his title for the first time when he takes on Evans at UFC 128 in Newark, N.J., on March 19.
But White said it may be one of his former champions who is next up, despite many who believe a UFC 126 fight between Jon Jones and Ryan Bader will determine the top contender. Bader is unbeaten; Jones' only loss was a disqualification against Hamill for illegal elbows, a fight he was dominating.
"(The light heavyweight) division is interesting," White said. "There's so many guys at 205, (but) Rampage is probably next in line. Rampage is still in the mix. You've got Jon Jones fighting Bader, which is going to be a great fight that catapults one of those guys into the top five. The big problem with the 205-pound division has been, Shogun's injury has been clogging up the division. So now he's healthy and gonna fight, and we're getting everything rolling here."
Jackson is scheduled to meet Thiago Silva at UFC 130 in May. Silva beat Brandon Vera in a unanimous decision at UFC 125 earlier this month, chasing him from the UFC in the process.
In another potentially important fight in the UFC's light heavyweight division, Griffin and former middleweight champion Rich Franklin fight as the co-main event at UFC 126.
Source: mmafighting.com
Speaking at a question-and-answer session that was closed to the public and attended only by enlisted military personnel, White said a fight between welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and middleweight champion Anderson Silva might take place in 2011.
Both fighters' dominance in their respective divisions would lead to the matchup, though White cautioned that both need to win their upcoming title defenses.
"If (Silva) wins that fight (against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126), then Georges St-Pierre needs to beat Jake Shields in Toronto (at UFC 129)," White said. "If that happens, then we're probably going to do that fight (between St-Pierre and Silva). If they both win, that fight makes all the sense in the world."
White also said in that scenario, he believes St-Pierre would move up from welterweight – and possibly even make that his new home. White did not elaborate on what would happen with St-Pierre's 170-pound title if that scenario indeed played out.
"Georges St-Pierre – he would move to 185 (to fight Silva) and stay at that weight and not go back to 170," White said. "Should (they) win (their next) fights, that fight will probably happen this year."
On most pound-for-pound rankings lists, Silva and St-Pierre alternate between the No. 1 and No. 2 positions and both have been at the top of most lists for years.
White has said on many occasions he believes Silva is the best fighter in the world. He has defended his middleweight title seven consecutive times, plus a win over Travis Lutter that was a non-title fight when Lutter couldn't make weight. In addition, he has two wins at light heavyweight against James Irvin and Forrest Griffin.
With a record 11 consecutive wins in the UFC, Silva (27-4, 11-0 UFC) was never truly tested until his title defense in August against Chael Sonnen. Sonnen dominated the first four rounds and the first half of the final round and was on his way to what would surely have been a unanimous decision victory. But Silva was able to work from his back for a submission, the only chance he had to win the fight, and forced Sonnen to tap with a triangle-armbar combination.
After the fight, Silva and manager Ed Soares said the champion was fighting with a bad rib injury, which they said explained Sonnen's dominance throughout the fight. In September, it was announced Sonnen had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. He was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission, effectively nixing a likely rematch between the two. Silva next defends his title against Belfort at UFC 126 on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas.
St-Pierre (21-2, 15-2 UFC) has not lost since a TKO against Matt Serra at UFC 69, regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of MMA. That was St-Pierre's first defense of the welterweight title he had taken from Matt Hughes at UFC 65, ending Hughes' long reign in the division. St-Pierre got his belt back at UFC 83 in his home city of Montreal and has gone on to defend it five straight times – winning every round in the process with four unanimous decisions and a TKO against former lightweight and welterweight champ BJ Penn from a corner stoppage before the fifth round.
St-Pierre is scheduled to defend his title against former Strikeforce middleweight champion and recent UFC signee Shields at UFC 129 in Toronto, the promotion's debut in Ontario, on April 30. Shields beat Martin Kampmann by split decision at UFC 121 in his UFC debut to earn the title shot.
Source: mmafighting.com
