Photo by Rod Mar for ESPN.com
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White handed out $70,000 in “Fight Night” bonuses to fighters Michael McDonald, Urijah Faber, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Dan Henderson, all for their work at UFC 139.
UFC 139: Shogun vs. Rua took place on Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California with portions of the event airing live on the web, television, and pay-per-view. Attendance for the event, according to White was 13,173 for a live gate of $1.268 million.
Earning “Knockout of the Night” was McDonald for his KO of Alex Soto. While Urijah Faber was awarded with the “Submission of the Night” for his win against Brian Bowles. Two “Fight of the Night” bonuses were given out to both the main event, and co-main event matches. Earning some extra cash were Wanderlei Silva and Cung Le, as well as Dan Henderson and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.
McDonald wasted little time against Soto, dropping his opponent with a right hand before finishing the fight on the ground at 56-seconds of the first.
Faber earned a second shot against Dominick Cruz, and the UFC bantamweight title, by catching Bowles with a top-side guillotine choke in the second. ‘The California Kid’ caught his opponent with an uppercut and then during the ensuing scramble, was able to secure the submission.
In a matchup of styles, Silva survived some early strikes from Le in the first and was able to unleash his classic barrage, finishing the former Strikeforce champ at 4:49 of the second. Former PRIDE champions ‘Shogun’ Rua and ‘Hendo’ Henderson went five rounds in what should be one of the great classic matches, with both fighters looking close to finish several times in their bout. In the end, Henderson was able to earn the nod from the judges with scores of 48-47 across the board.