Let’s head first to MMA Junkie for the live attendance and gate receipts of UFC 130: “Rampage vs. Hamill”. According to their report, UFC 130 drew 12,816 fight fans with a total gate receipt of 2.57 million dollars. MMA Junkie also states that those numbers put UFC 130 at or near what UFC 125 drew.

We then head to MMA Weekly for a list of the UFC’s traditional post-fight awards and bonuses. For UFC 130, the bonuses were set at a cool seventy thousand dollars.

“Knockout of the Night” went to Travis Browne, to the surprise of no one. Browne more than earned the bonus with an electric Superman Punch KO.

“Submission of the Night” was awarded to Gleison Tibau. The long-time journeyman looked great at the UFC 130 preliminaries, dropping Rafaello Oliveira with crisp strikes, nailing some huge Ground and Pound, and then sinking in a choke for the win.

“Fight of the Night” went to Brian Stann and Jorge Santiago. Santiago was coming into the UFC after a fantastic run in Japan, while Stann was coming off of a major victory over Chris Leben. The two fighters exchanged at will, with Stann ultimately putting Santiago to sleep with some thunderous punches. Santiago’s UFC career may already be in doubt, but at least he’s got seventy grand to comfort him.

All in all, I’ve got no real problems with any of the post-fight bonuses. I actually think Travis Browne won me over as a fan in this fight. His striking is just a little sloppy, but he’s got a lot of heart and he doesn’t mind trading at will. And of course, I loved that Superman Punch KO. I think Gleison Tibau is a skilled journeyman, and while I don’t ever think he’ll become a top-level star, he’s consistently entertaining to watch. And I’m officially in the “Stannwagon”, as some fans are already calling it. Brian Stann is the real deal, and I think he’s going to shake things up at Middleweight.

In regards to the live attendance and gate receipts, this is one of those “it is what it is” situations. I knew the attendance and gate receipts would take a hit after the main event was nixed. As much as I like Matt Hamill and Quinton Jackson, I’m generally against the procedure of simply bumping the co-main event to the main event when the main event gets pulled. It’s a co-main event for a reason, and just bumping it up leaves a hole in the card.

Overall, UFC 130 was a decent event and it seems to have done a decent number… at least by the UFC’s mega-standards.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Gleison Tibau: This is definitely the fight I’m looking forward to the most. Pellegrino is a veteran of twenty fights, while Tibau is only a few fights shy of reaching the thirty-fight mark. Both have had their high points and low points, but you can almost always count on these two for an entertaining performance. Thanks to their many years of experience, I see both men grinding this one out and giving fans a pretty good fight. I personally think Pellegrino has had bigger wins over better competition, so I’m calling for Kurt Pellegrino to win by Unanimous Decision.

Ricardo Almeida vs. Mike Pyle: There’s a certain section of the fanbase that’s come out against this fight being on the prelims, and I have to say that I agree. Mike Pyle just had a huge victory over John Hathaway, Ricardo Almeida is only seven months removed from facing UFC legend Matt Hughes. As to the fight itself, both men have a ton of experience but Almeida is a bad match-up for Pyle. Both men’s strong suits are the ground game, but Almeida is simply at a much higher level than Pyle. Ricardo Almeida wins by submission in Round 2.

Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani: I’ve always been impressed and entertained whenever I see Anthony Njokuani fight, but Edson Barboza is an undefeated prospect that has finished all seven of his professional fights, six of them by (T)KO and five of them within the first round. Njokuani will definitely put up a fight, but I think this will be the big win Barboza needs in order to get him on major MMA cards for the foreseeable future. Barboza wins by (T)KO in Round 2.

Luiz Cane vs. Eliot Marshall: Luiz Cane never fully realized his potential in the UFC, but then again, neither did Eliot Marshall. However, Marshall getting booted from the UFC seems to have reinvigorated him: he’s won three straight fights. Meanwhile, Luiz Cane hasn’t fought since May 2010 and is currently in the midst of a two-fight losing-streak, with both losses being by TKO. Simply put, Marshall is out of the woods and back on the path while Cane is still deeply lost. Eliot Marshall wins by Unanimous Decision.

And that’s what I think, fans and friends. I probably won’t do this series too often, but when the UFC and/or Strikeforce (or any other company for that matter) gives me access to preliminary fights that deserve to be talked about, you can bet that you’ll see a new “Prelims Predictions” before long. Until then, what’s your opinion on the UFC 128 prelims?

The addition of Caol Uno (25-13-5)to the UFC seems to have become a failed venture. His loss last night to Gleison Tibau (18-6) was one sided and will likely cause the release of Uno from the UFC. Uno offered up nothing in the way of offense and was an easy and much needed win for Tibau.

“The Real Deal” Ross Pearson (16-5-1) looked very sharp in his decision victory over Dennis Siver (15-7). Ross has been known to step in and engage in a slug fest but against Siver, a very dangerous fighter, he had a good game plan. He moved in and out and never stayed engaged to long. He had great head movement and his feints kept Sivers off guard and somewhat confused.

My only critique of Pearson’s performance was his lack of killer instinct. He seemed to hurt Dennis a couple times in the fight and rather than push forward and try for a finish he sat back playing it a bit safe. Granted he got the win but as he moves up in the division he will need to use a similar strategy but also be able to incorporate that finishing instinct. He could go a long way in the UFC given ample amount of time.

While I thought Joe Rogan was a little off his game last night and flat out wrong about a couple of things I will discuss later, he was dead on about Jorge Rivera (18-7). I have never seen Jorge look so good in a fight. He dominated the guy I picked to win the fight, “Rock” Nate Quarry (12-4). He picked him apart in the fight once he found his range. Nate did land some solid leg kicks but again, once Jorge found the range he unloaded on Nate with power shots that seemed to rock the “Rock” each time. I also thought Jorge looked lighter on his feet and seemed to take some solid punches better than he has in the past. This could be the start of a new fight life for Jorge and I am excited to see where he goes from here.

Then there was MMA Gospel fan favorite “Skyscraper” Stefan Struve (16-4) taking on “Big Country” Roy Nelson (15-4) in the co-main event. I think Struve can be a top contender in the heavyweight division in the future. He is young and the sky is the limit for him, no pun intended. Although in order for him to reach his full potential he will need to learn to utilize his height and reach advantage to his fullest. There is no reason Nelson should have gotten inside on Struve with very little effort. Struve needed to use his jab to keep Nelson at bay and instead of the leg kicks he should be using the front kick to the body. These are weapons a man of his size should be using to keep the shorter opponents outside their range so he can pick them apart.

Having said that I don’t feel he gave that fight to Nelson. I think Nelson worked hard and knew exactly what he had to do in order to win. It is hard to judge his performance because the fight only went 39 seconds but that is two big knock outs for Roy, a man many said was to fat and to slow for the UFC.

Now we move to the main event between Fighters.com seventh-ranked “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (12-4) and “The Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (28-6). This is where my critique of Joe Rogan comes in to play.

If you listened to Joe and Mike Goldberg you would think Kenny was destroying Gomi and that just was not the case. Granted Florian did a very good job in the first round using his jab to throw off Gomi’s plan of attack. That and his fast movement in and out of the pocket kept Gomi from unleashing anything substantial but then again Gomi has never been much of a defensive striker.In the past he has eaten plenty of punches in order to get inside to deliver his death blow. However in the first round he was blanked.

The second round told a different story though. Gomi was able to slip Florian’s jab and use a very effective one-two counter that had KenFlo putting on the brakes when working his own counter. It did not fully stop Kenny but it was working and proved to me that if Gomi were to take his training more seriously he could very well make a come back.

In the end though his ground game is still just awful as it always has been and Kenny’s seems to be getting better. The worst part for Florian is that he is stuck in a division where the champion is seemingly heads and tails above the rest.

All in all the Fight Night was full of exciting fights and fantastic finishes. Some shocking and others, well, not so much.

Florian weighed the limit at 156 pounds and Gomi weighed 155 pounds.

The Ultimate Fighter 10 champion “Big Country” Roy Nelson (14-4) and 6? 11? heavyweight prospect “SkySkraper” Stefan Struve (23-3) both also made weight for their matchup.  Nelson weighed 263 pounds while Struve weighed 248 pounds.

Fight night 21 will air live on SpikeTV at 8:00 PM EST.  The rest of the weights below:

Nate Quarry (186) vs. Jorge Rivera (186)
Ross Pearson (156) vs. Dennis Siver (156)
Rafaello Oliveira (156) vs. Andre Winner (156)
Ronys Torres (155) vs. Jacob Volkmann (155)
Rob Emerson (154) vs. Nik Lentz (155)
Gleison Tibau (156) vs. Caol Uno (156)
Lucio Linhares (184) vs. Yushin Okami (184)
Gerald Harris (186) vs. Mario Miranda (186)
Charlie Brenneman (170) vs. Jason High (170)

Rua weighed in at 204.5 pounds.

Machida has weighed in to a UFC light heavyweight fight as low as 199-pounds and is undefeated, however he has been more likely to win by stoppage when weighing 204 pounds or more the day before a fight indicating his weight does affect his performance.  Machida might expect a stand-up war versus the crisp striker Rua and therefore want to be lighter on his feet.

On the flips side of the coin, welterweight prospect “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (7-2) weighed 176 pounds, five pounds over the welterweight limit, for his fight versus eighth-ranked “Zenko” Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-2), who weighed in at the limit.  The two agreed to fight regardless of Johnson’s apparent disregard for the rules and disrespect for Yoshida.

Lightweights “Dentis” Josh Neer (25-8-1) and Gleison Tibau (16-5) both missed weight in their matchup.  Neer weight 156.5 pounds and Tibau weighe 157 pounds.

The rest of the card made weight:

Cain Velasquez (6-0) 238 pounds v Ben Rothwell (26-6) 265 pounds
“Daddy” Joe Stevenson (30-9 155.5 pounds v “King” Spencer Fisher (23-4) 155 pounds
“Darth” Ryan Bader (7-0) 205 pounds v “Red” Eric Schafer (12-4-2) 205.5 pounds
“HD” Pat Barry (2-2) 237 pounds v Antoni Hardonk (8-5)  249.5 pounds
Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked middleweight Chael Sonnen (22-10-1) 185 pounds v “Thunder” Yushin Okami (23-4) 185 pounds
“El Conquistador” Jorge Rivera (16-7) 185 pounds v Rosedale Reaper” Rob Kimmons (21-4) 185 pounds
Kyle Kingsbury (8-2) 205.5 pounds v Razak Al-Hassan (7-1) 204.5 pounds
Chase Gormley (2-0) 262 pounds v Stefan Struve (13-2) 243.5 pounds

Sanchez has certainly fought in some of SpikeTV’s most memorable fights, including his most recent split decision victory over perennial gatekeeper “Carpenter” Clay Guida (25-10) at The Ultimate Fighter 9 finale in Las Vegas June 20.

But, UFC lightweights fifth-ranked “Bully” Gray Maynard (8-0) and sixth-ranked “The Answer” Frank Edgar (10-1) are more deserving of a title shot, though admittedly less well-known to casual UFC fans.

Maynard won a split decision over another unranked, but popular UFC lightweight “El Matador” Roger Huerta (20-3-1) at UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City September 16.

Edgar will follow-up his unanimous decision over former UFC champ ninth-ranked “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (33-4-1) at UFC 98 in Las Vegas May 23 versus “Batman” Kurt Pellegrino (15-4) at The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale in Las Vegas December 5.

Diaz beats unrelenting, but beatable Guida and gets a title shot versus Penn.  Edgar beats the former champ Sherk and is notched down to fight Pellegrino.  Explain that…

Sherk was scheduled to fight Gleison Tibau (16-6) at UFC 104 in Los Angeles October 24, but withdrew with an injury.

Most recent UFC title challenger, seventh-ranked “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (11-4), will swap opponents with Diaz when he fights Guida at UFC 107.

Meanwhile, across the Pacific second-ranked DREAM champ “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (17-4) avenged his most recent loss in the division with an armbar submission of fourth-ranked “Hellboy” Joachim Hansen (18-7) at DREAM.11 in Yokohama October 6 and is already slated to defend his title from eighth-ranked “Crusher” Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2) at Dynamite!! 2009 north of Tokyo on New Year’s Eve.

Third-ranked Eddie Alvarez (16-2) and tenth-ranked Katsunori Kikuno (5-0-1) will fight at DREAM.12 in Osaka October 25 for the next DREAM title shot versus the winner of Aoki v Kawajiri.

Fighters.com’s October Lightweight Rankings

1. “Prodigy” BJ Penn (14-5-1)

2. “Tobikan Judan” Shinya Aoki (17-4)

3. Eddie Alvarez (16-2)

4. “Hellboy” Joachim Hansen (18-7)

5. “Bully” Gray Maynard (8-0)

6. “The Answer” Frank Edgar (10-1)

7. “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (11-4)

8. “Crusher” Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2)

9. “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (33-4-1)

10. Katsunori Kikuno (5-0-1)

Slotted instead are the main event between Fighters.com and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion “Dragon” Lyoto Machida (15-0) and sixth-ranked “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-3) and co-main event between heavyweights Cain Velasquez (6-0) and “Big” Ben Rothwell (26-6) as well as the following matchups:

Gleison Tibau (16-5) v “Dentist” Josh Neer (25-8-1)
“Daddy” Joe Stevenson (30-9) v “King” Spencer Fisher (23-4)
“Rumble” Anthony Johnson (7-2) v “Zenko” Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3)

The Sonnen/Okami matchup could make the PPV broadcast if those fights run short and the Sonnen/Okami fight is both exciting and fits into the remaining time.

Okami is 7-1 in the Octagon and holds the distinction of being the only UFC fighter to hold a win over Fighters.com and UFC Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4), albeit by disqualification at Rumble on the Rock 8 in Honolulu in 2006.  Okami’s only loss in the UFC was a tight UD to Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked middleweight “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-5) at UFC 72 in Belfast in June 2007.

Slated for the undercard with Sonnen v Okami is:

Antoni Hardonk (8-5) v “HD” Pat Barry (2-2)
“El Conquistador” Jorge Rivera (16-7) v “Rosedale Reaper” Rob Kimmons (21-4)
“Darth” Ryan Bader (7-0) v “Red” Eric Schafer (12-4-2)
Kyle Kingsbury (8-2) v Razak Al-Hassan (7-1)
Stefan Struve (13-2) v Chase Gormley (2-0)

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.

The matchup currently remains on the broadcast portion of the fight card, but losing the big name of Sherk certainly weakens the draw for casual viewers.

UFC 104 will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles 24 October and be broadcast live on PPV at 10:00 PM EST. Tickets starting at $51.75 can be purchased at Ticketmaster and doors open at the Staple Center at 4:45 PM PT. Fighters.com will post live results.

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.

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.

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.

All the weights from Vegas are below.

“Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-6) 205-pounds v Forrest Griffin (15-4) 205-pounds

“Predator” Patrick Cote (13-4) 185-pounds v “Cachorrao” Ricardo Almeida (9-2) 185-pounds

Fourth-ranked“Kos” Josh Koscheck (12-2) 170-pounds v “Lights Out” Chris Lytle (25-15-5) 170-pounds

Tyson Griffin (11-1) 155-pounds v “Maximus” Marcus Aurelio (16-5) 155-pounds

“Daddy” Joe Stevenson (33-8) 155-pounds v Gleison Tibau (15-5) 156-pounds

Tenth-ranked“Napao” Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) 249-pounds v Justin McCully (8-3-2) 236-pounds

Jorge Gurgel (12-3) 155-poundsv “Magrino” Cole Miller (13-3) 155-pounds

“Young Assassin” Melvin Guillard (21-7-2) 155-pounds  v Dennis Siver (11-5) 155-pounds

Corey Hill (2-0) 155-pounds v Justin Buchholz (7-2) 155-pounds

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.

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.