The UFC’s first pay per view card of 2013 took place on Saturday night from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV. In the main event of the evening Jose Aldo successfully defended his featherweight crown, defeating former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision.
While Aldo was the favorite to win that fight, he was the exception at UFC 156, as several other favorites didn’t live up to that billing.
Rashad Evans lost a decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in an uninspired light heavyweight bout and Jon Fitch was out “Fitch’d” by submission expert Demian Maia. The most surprising upset of the night belonged to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who TKO’d the heavily favored Alistair Overeem in their heavyweight contest.
Also of note was the fact that three former Strikeforce fighters made their UFC debut on the card, each scoring a victory.
The most notable of those three wins was Tyron Woodley, who came in and blasted Jay Hieron, knocking him out in 36 seconds. Woodley looked like a lock for “Knockout of the Night” honors, but that check was denied him when Silva dropped Overeem on the pay per view card.
The results of the event shook up a few weight divisions. Losses from Evans and Overeem put them out of the running for title shots, while the win from Maia and Silva put them in the mix for future title shots in their weight divisions.
UFC 156 Full Salaries (via MMAJunkie.com)
Jose Aldo: $120,000 plus $120,000 win bonus defeated Frankie Edgar: $120,000.
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: $107,000 plus $67,000 win bonus defeated Rashad Evans: $300,000.
Antonio Silva: $70,000 defeated Alistair Overeem: $285,714.29.
Demian Maia: $60,000 plus $60,000 win bonus defeated Jon Fitch: $66,000.
Joseph Benavidez: $30,000 plus $30,000 win bonus defeated Ian McCall: $9,000.
Evan Dunham: $23,000 plus $23,000 win bonus defeated Gleison Tibau: $33,000.
Tyron Woodley: $43,500 plus $43,500 win bonus defeated Jay Hieron: $12,000.
Bobby Green: $10,000 plus $10,000 win bonus defeated Jacob Volkmann: $22,000.
Isaac Vallie-Flagg: $10,000 plus $10,000 win bonus defeated Yves Edwards: $21,000.
Dustin Kimura: $8,000 plus $8,000 win bonus defeated Chico Camus: $8,000.
Francisco Rivera: $8,000 plus $8,000 win bonus defeated Edwin Figueroa: $10,000.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com