Anderson Silva celebrates UFC 148 victory
Silva, Griffin, Ortiz earn Fight Night bonuses of $75K
UFC 148 is in the books, and a reported 15,016 fans packed the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night for the highly-anticipated card. The event also earned a live gate of $7 million, which set a new mark for the live gate for a UFC event and for the venue.
The card featured a main event middleweight title rematch between champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. After years of conflict between the two, Silva walked away with an impressive technical knockout win, keeping his UFC record untarnished and strengthening his case as being the greatest fighter in the sport’s history.
However, Silva’s victory also earned him a post-fight bonus, as the champion walked away with $75,000 after taking home “Knockout of the Night” honors.
The only other two fighters to earn post-fight bonuses that were revealed were co-main event competitors Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin. The latter defeated Ortiz in “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” final fight in the UFC, earning a unanimous decision. The contest went down as the evening’s “Fight of the Night.”
No bonus was given for “Submission of the Night,” as none of the 11 contests ended via submission.
Check out our quick results from UFC 148, as well as post-fight interviews with Melvin Guillard and Chad Mendes