Anderson Silva On Comeback Trail (Video), Nick Diaz On UFC Return, UFC 170 Salaries & Bonuses
- Rory MacDonald, Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson and Ronda Rousey each took home a extra $50,000 following UFC 170 this weekend for their superlative performances.
MacDonald and Maia were awarded Fight of the Night for their back-and-forth three-round battle. The win put MacDonald back in the win column after a loss to Robbie Lawler; Maia is now 0-2, having lost to Jake Shields prior to this fight. Thompson won a Performance of the Night bonus for his first-round stoppage over Robert Whittaker, which puts him at three straight wins in the UFC's welterweight division. Finally, Rousey was give a Performance of the Night bonus for her first-round stoppage of Sara McMann — which, for the first time in her career, came via TKO instead of by armbar.
- According to MMAJunkie, UFC women's bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and top light heavyweight Daniel Cormier led the UFC 170 payroll. You can check out the full list of payouts from UFC 170 — which took place this past Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas — below.
Champ Ronda Rousey: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus)
def. Sara McMann: $16,000Daniel Cormier: $160,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus)
def. Patrick Cummins: $8,000Rory MacDonald: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)
def. Demian Maia: $64,000Mike Pyle: $96,000 (includes $48,000 win bonus)
def. T.J. Waldburger: $18,000Stephen Thompson: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Robert Whittaker: $15,000Alexis Davis: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Jessica Eye: $8,000Raphael Assuncao: $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
def. Pedro Munhoz: $8,000Aljamain Sterling: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Cody Gibson: $8,000Zach Makovsky: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Josh Sampo: $10,000Erik Koch: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Rafaello Oliveira: $14,000Ernest Chavez: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Yosdenis Cedeno: $8,000
- Though Nick Diaz walked away from the sport following a decision loss to then-champ Georges St-Pierre last year, the sport hasn't found it so easy to walk away from him. Constant speculation has surrounded Diaz's potential return to the cage, even when he's stayed quiet. Those wishing to see Diaz compete again — whether they want to see him win or lose — would seem to be in luck though, as the Stockton firebrand recently told gathered media that he's interested in making a comeback, as long as it's in a title fight.
"I don't care, I'm talking about a title fight matchup," said Diaz (via FOX Sports). "Bottom line, I'm the only draw here. Bottom line. We had like the third biggest [pay-per-view]. That wasn't just because of Georges St-Pierre. And these guys aren't doing that. People want to pay to see me fight, they want to see someone get knocked out or someone get tapped out, or they want to see me get my ass whooped like they've been waiting to see but they still don't get to see."
Though relatively young in the sport at 30-years-old, Diaz is a battle-tested veteran. And though he admits to missing competition, he says that he's no longer interested in taking lumps for lowered stakes.
"I miss feeling like I have something important coming up sometimes. For sure," he said. "As far as missing fighting? No. I don't miss going in to get my ass beat. So it's something where I'd like it to be an important deal if I'm going to fight."
- Just eight weeks after shattering his lower leg in a fight against Chris Weidman, MMA legend Anderson Silva is back to hitting pads. Though practicing caution, UFC president Dana White believes that it could be a sign that we'll see The Spider return to action "by the end of the year."
"[Silva's doctor] said, 'This is actually crazy; look at all the bone growth that he has in eight weeks,'" White said (via MMAJunkie). "He said sometimes you don't see that kind of bone growth in people over a couple of years. Pretty crazy."
White was quick to add a statement of caution for those already getting excited in anticipation of Silva's return.
"We'll see what happens," White said. "Anything can happen. He can hurt it again in training or anything is possible. He could start training and not feel the same. We'll just see how it all plays out."
Check out the video of Silva's comeback progress below.