How successful was ufc 130? There are several ways we can gauge this. One popular but difficult way is by fan opinion, which can vary wildly at any given moment. For the most part, UFC 130 garnered a mixed reaction, with some calling it average, some calling it o.k., and others calling it below-average. But in terms of pure numbers, how many seats did the UFC 130 card fill up, and how many dollars did the people in those seats spend throughout the night? We now know all that, plus the UFC’s typical “End of Night” bonuses. ...

Hello once more fans and friends and welcome to a new series simply called “Prelims Predictions”. When I normally do my “Picks and Predictions” piece for an upcoming MMA card, I usually only focus on the main/televised card. For Strikeforce it’s the Showtime broadcast, for the UFC it’s the Pay-Per-View lineup, etc. But now more and more the major players in MMA are giving fans easy access to preliminary fights, and the UFC in particular is leading the trend with multiple free prelims on Facebook and Spike TV for UFC 128 this Saturday. As this idea grows in popularity and more and more fans tune in to watch these prelims, I think it’s only natural that I give my thoughts on them in order to both talk more about the fights I enjoy and give exposure to a pretty entertaining series. So here we go with the first edition of “Prelims Predictions”, featuring my predictions for the UFC 128: “Shogun vs. Jones” preliminary fights. ...

Jim Miller is admittedly just outside the top 5 or 6 ranked UFC lightweights, but all that could change with a convincing victory over Gleison Tibau on September 15th in Austin Texas at UFC Fight Night 22.  Miller is on a powerful four fight win streak and has only one loss in the UFC ... to title contender Gray Maynard.  Miller took some time to speak with Fighters.com recently about his upcoming fight and Frankie Edgar's recent victory over BJ Penn at UFC 118.  Click through to listen! ...

UFC Fight Night took place last night before the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter. Here is a look back at the highlights and low-lights of the event MMA Gospel style. ...

Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked lightweight “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (12-4) and former PRIDE champion “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (28-6) both made the lightweight limit for their matchup at Fight Night 21 in Charlotte Wednesday night. ...

Fighters.com and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion “Dragon” Lyoto Machida (15-0) weighed in two-and-a-half pounds under the 205-pound light heavyweight limit Friday, a day before he'll defend his titles from sixth-ranked “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-3) at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles Saturday. ...

Fighters.com and UFC Lightweight Champion "Prodigy" BJ Penn (14-5-1) will defend his titles from unranked, but popular The Ultimate Fighter 1 champion “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (21-2) at UFC 107 at the FedExForum in Memphis December 12, the UFC officially announced Tuesday. ...

Friday the UFC confirmed that the contender matchup between Fighters.com's seventh-ranked middleweight and former WEC champ Chael Sonnen (22-10-1) and UFC contender “Thunder” Yushin Okami (23-4) is not scheduled for the pay per view broadcast of UFC 104 in Los Angeles October 24. ...

Lightweight "Dentist" Josh Neer (25-8-1) will replace "Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk (33-4-1) versus Gleison Tibau (16-5) at UFC 104 in Los Angeles 24 October, the UFC has announced. Since returning to the UFC in April 2008, Neer has notched a 2-2 record, but in several of the gnarliest fights of the last two years. He lost a three-round UD to "Batman" Kurt Pellegrino (15-4) at UFC 101 in Philadelphia 8 August. Tibau lost a split decision to "Young Assassin" Melvin Guillard (22-7-2) The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale in Las Vegas 20 June. ...

"Maximus" Marcus Aurelio (16-6) will replace Gleison Tibau (15-6) versus former American Top Team teammate Hermes Franca (18-7) in Chicago 25 October. Tibau suffered a shoulder injury while training for the fight. Aurelio lost a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin (12-1) in Las Vegas 5 July. Aurelio and Franca trained together at American Top Team north of Miami before Franca left the camp. ...

Fighters.com’s eighth-ranked lightweight Hermes Franca (18-7) told Sherdog Monday he would face American Top Team’s Gleison Tibau (15-6) at UFC 90 near Chicago 25 October. Returning to the Octagon after a year-long suspension for testing positive for banned substances, Franca sustained a unanimous decision loss to “The Answer” Frank Edgar (9-1) UFC: Fight Night in July. Tibau is coming off two straight losses; most recently he tapped to “Daddy” Joe Stevenson (29-8)’s second-round guillotine at UFC 86 in July. ...

"For all you Rampage haters, you might as well get used to me," Fighters.com's Light Heavyweight Champion "Rampage" Quinton Jackson (28-6) announced to the crowd at the UFC 86 weigh-ins in Las Vegas Friday.  "I'ma be here for a long time," he added, then flashed the peace sign. Rampage weighed in at 205-pounds, as did eighth-ranked title challenger Forrest Griffin (15-4). Xtreme Couture's Griffin said, "It's nice to fight in your hometown.  Thank you, guys." Griffin smirked in the gaze of an intense Rampage stare down. All fighters on Saturday night's card made weight. Only lightweight Gleison Tibau (15-5) missed the mark, but by the allowed one pound at 156-pounds.  Tibau will fight "Daddy" Joe Stevenson (33-8). 6'4" lightweight Corey Hill (2-0) looked absolutely emaciated at 155-pounds. ...

UFC.com has added former UFC lightweight title contender "Daddy" Joe Stevenson (28-8) versus Brazilian Gleison Tibau (15-5) to their UFC 86 fight card to be held in Vegas 5 July. Tibau returns from a razor-thin UD loss to Tyson Griffin (11-1) in Tibau's first fight dropping to 155-pounds from welterweight at UFC 81. "Daddy" lost his title challenge to "The Prodigy" B.J. Penn (12-4-1) in January by second-round rear naked choke submission. The bout is currently listed on the PPV broadcast card and just beneath the main event UFC Light Heavyweight title fight between Champion "Rampage" Quinton Jackson (29-6) and Forrest Griffin (15-4); but, one suspects a more marketable co-main event will eventually knock the fight lower on the card. ...

"That's why [Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira] is the best in the world," former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia proclaimed after suffering a guillotine submission loss to the Brazilian in the interim heavyweight title main event at UFC 81 Saturday night. The fight pitted former world champions from the UFC and PRIDE, but was overshadowed by the MMA debut of former NCAA and pro wrestling champion Brock Lesnar. Significance was also diminished by Randy Couture's departure from the UFC while holding the title after defeating Sylvia in March 2007. 6'8" Sylvia pot-shotted the Sao Paulo native from the opening ding and occasionally popped a power shot in Nogueira's mug, even dropping him with a combo in the first session and again in the second. The Miletich-trained "Maine-iac" fiercely dominated the opening two rounds. Stubborn Nogueira had no quit, even as his face began to swell at the end of Sylvia's tremendous reach. "Minotauro" attempted takedowns; but, Sylvia's balance is exceptional for a big man. The train from Maine derailed in the third when Nogueira's notorious resilience muscled the battle to the mat. "He went for the guillotine, which we knew he was going to do," a distraught Sylvia explained post-fight. Nogueira became the first fighter to hold both UFC and PRIDE heavyweight titles when Tim Sylvia tapped out at 1:28 of the third round. "That's what he does to everybody," Sylvia echoed the sentiments of MMA faithful who've watched a battered Big Nog pull out seemingly impossible victories before. Nogueira's victory sets up a possible first defense versus French kickboxer Cheick Kongo, if Kongo can beat Heath Herring in Columbus next month.  But, both Fabricio Werdum and Andrei Arlovski have claims to the top contender-ship too. Sylvia may be headed for a history-loaded rematch with the man who broke his arm: Frank Mir. Another former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Mir, defended MMA's honor against powerhouse rookie Brock Lesnar by submitting him in a kneebar at 1:30 of the first round. Mir got dumped on his ass early by the massive Minnesotan who hovered and hammered fists and elbows. "He was so strong!"  Mir explained in the locker room. Tactic and technique determined the outcome though.  "It wasn't a textbook, perfect finish, but I ended up doing it 80% right." 80% is all it takes versus an inexperienced opponent.  As Lesnar stood to yank his arm from an armbar attempt, Mir secured a leg and rolled into a kneebar. "Frank [Mir] and I have some unfinished business," Tim Sylvia had taunted at a pre-fight press conference. The high profile "W" for Mir makes that rematch marketable. At 185-pounds, Nathan Marquardt entered the Octagon off a loss to division champ Anderson Silva to fight 79-17-5 Jeremy Horn, a late replacement opponent. The veteran Horn absorbed punishment on the mat before nearly catching Marquardt in a gogoplata in the first round. It was Marquardt, however, who applied a guillotine choke during a scramble and tapped Horn at 1:37 of the second round. After a four-year hiatus from MMA, Ricardo Almeida invoked nostalgia over his earlier successes by submitting another late replacement, undefeated Alaskan Rob Yundt, in a guillotine choke at 1:08 of round one. Almeida is a welcome addition to the scant 185-pound division. Lightweights Tyson Griffin and Gleison Tibau tussled for three exciting rounds to open the televised card. The shorter fighter, Griffin, popped Tibau with precise punches while Tibau seemed to take down the wrestler at will. In the end, the judges saw it unanimously for Tyson Griffin, though Gleison Tibau lost no one's respect. "Lights Out" Chris Lytle treated 13-5 Kyle Bradley's head like a speed bag in a 33-second TKO victory. Light heavyweight Tim Boetsch reminded MMA fans of "Tank" Abbott in tossing Oklahoman David Heath to the mat and pummelling a TKO out of him at 4:52 of round one. Terry Martin suffered another disappointing defeat, this time in a unanimous decision to "The Beastman" Marvin Eastman. The event opened with a spirited lightweight scrap won in split decision by Robert Emerson over Japan's Keita Nakamura. ...