UFC 95 Fighter Bonuses and Live Gate Total

Posted on February 23rd, 2009

UFC 95 was a night full of great fights, some unexpected knockouts and brilliant jiu jitsu. Diego Sanchez has proved his point on moving to the lightweight division. Demian Maia once again proved his jiu jitsu skills. Dan Hardy wins by knockout in 69 seconds. And lastly, Thiago Silva surprised everyone with his knockout win over Josh Koscheck.

Sanchez came into the fight looking well prepared and in shape. He picked apart Stevenson for the last two rounds, as the first one seemed like it could have gone either way with the exchanges. In the end he proved his worth and readiness to take on greater challenges, a rematch with Kenny Florian – or the real goal, a title shot against BJ Penn. Both fighters were awarded $40k each and earned Fight of the Night honors.

Demian Maia deems himself ready for a title shot after his quick submission victory over Chael Sonnen. Maia’s very slick takedown straight into the mount, securing the triangle awarded him the Submission of the Night and $40k. Though he thinks he is ready for the title shot, Nate Marquardt cannot be ruled out as an option to happen sooner. Both fighters have worked their ways up the ranks and now appear to be in line for a shot versus UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. What will happen next for the two fighters remains in question.

Lastly Josh Koscheck versus Paulo Thiago. On paper, this fight seems to be leaning more toward the more experienced and momentum holding Josh Koscheck than the undefeated Paulo Thiago. In the Octagon it appeared to be true, but just as Joe Rogan was stating the fact that Koscheck was winning, Thiago comes in with his own surprise and KO’s Josh Koscheck, earning him Knockout of the Night honors and $40k. Koscheck is upset about the stoppage, but if you watch the tape a few times the stoppage looks like a good call.

At the gate the O2 Arena squeezed in 13,268 UFC fans and most likely earned well over a million dollars.