As expected, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva got the nod from the UFC for the Fight of the Night at UFC 117, netting them both an extra $60,000 for their trouble. Silva also pocketed another sixty grand for his triangle choke finish, which was awarded dual Submission of the Night honors along withMatt Hughes, who took home the prize because, as Dana White put it, "I've never seen it before."Knockout of the Night went to Stefan Struve, who survived a disastrous first round against Christian Morecraft to score a come-from-behind TKO victory early in th
e second frame of his preliminary bout.
Below, check out more news and notes to come out of Saturday night's post-fight UFC 117 press conference:
- Dana White is still none too pleased with the fact that Thiago Alves missed weight by a half a pound for his fight with Jon Fitch. White repeatedly said that Alves, who didn't even attempt to cut the extra weight in the time allotted to him after the initial weigh-in, needs to go up to middleweight. White said he told Alves as much when they talked via text message after the fight:
"He said, 'I'm sorry about that. I'll come back stronger.' I said, 'Yeah, at 185 you will.' ...He looked lethargic tonight, he looked slow. He doesn't belong at 170. He belongs at 185 pounds. I feel that way. I know Joe Silva feels that way. That's where I'd like to see him, at 185."
When asked if Alves would have been awarded the title shot with a victory after failing to make weight, White responded, "Probably not."
- When pressed on his future plans and whether he'll feel conflicted when his teammate Josh Koscheck fights for the welterweight belt later this year, Jon Fitch claimed that he had not and could not think beyond his impending nuptials:
"The only thing on my mind right now is I'm getting married in three weeks. ...Talk to me after September 4."
Naturally, White chose to interpret this as a sign that Fitch might be open to fighting Koscheck, should Koscheck take the belt from Georges St. Pierre:
"What I believe of Jon Fitch and what I know of Josh Koscheck, I think both these guys have the desire, the heart, and the spirit to take this fight."
Fitch offered no response, aside from a slightly incredulous look in White's direction.
- Though he's riding a three-fight win streak after choking out Ricardo Almeida, former champ Matt Hughes was non-committal about his future in the UFC, saying he'd take the fall off to enjoy some hunting and would "talk with the UFC and figure out what we're going to do" some time in early 2011.
Of the choke that put Almeida out, Hughes said it was something he used often in his college wrestling days: "I could get people to go unconscious back then, so it's something I've always been good at."
White added, "Chuck Liddell came up to me afterwards and said he used to see that in wrestling and it was completely illegal because you couldn't choke people out. He said only a moose like Hughes could pull that one off."
- After his strong – and sometimes baffling – pre-fight remarks, Chael Sonnen stated in no uncertain terms that he had no regrets about the way he had conducted himself:
"I don't apologize for anything, I never did, and if I ever backed off from my stance I would send myself a pink slip and move on in life. I have one goal, it's to be the world champion, and I'm not backing off that goal because of tonight's decision. ...I'm not Dog the Bounty Hunter. I don't issue apologies and you're not going to be the first to get one out of me."
When asked if he regretted his decision not to try and stall for the last remaining minutes of the fight, Sonnen said he didn't completely realize how close the fight was to being over when he was submitted:
"He hit me real hard a couple times. He kicked me real hard a couple times. You're just in the middle of a fistfight on a Saturday night. There's not a lot of thinking. A lot of people like to talk about strategy and thinking and blah, blah, blah. It's a fistfight in the middle of Oakland, California in a steel cage."
- As for Anderson Silva, his mind was with his family after the dramatic come-from-behind victory:
"The one thing I was thinking about, I was thinking about my home. I was thinking about my kids, my family, my wife. I haven't seen them in three months. I was thinking about my grandmother who passed away three weeks ago. I was thinking about my family and I couldn't wait to get back home to see them."
- The sudden finish to his bout with Rafael dos Anjos came as something of a surprise to Clay Guida, who was unaware that the Brazilian was suffering from an injured jaw:
"I was a little confused too. I was putting pressure on that shoulder in his jaw against the cage, and he tapped. I didn't know if he thought I was doing something illegal."
- And finally, on the issue of a potential rematch with Silva, Sonnen made his intentions as clear as possible as the presser came to a close:
Below, check out more news and notes to come out of Saturday night's post-fight UFC 117 press conference:
- Dana White is still none too pleased with the fact that Thiago Alves missed weight by a half a pound for his fight with Jon Fitch. White repeatedly said that Alves, who didn't even attempt to cut the extra weight in the time allotted to him after the initial weigh-in, needs to go up to middleweight. White said he told Alves as much when they talked via text message after the fight:
"He said, 'I'm sorry about that. I'll come back stronger.' I said, 'Yeah, at 185 you will.' ...He looked lethargic tonight, he looked slow. He doesn't belong at 170. He belongs at 185 pounds. I feel that way. I know Joe Silva feels that way. That's where I'd like to see him, at 185."
When asked if Alves would have been awarded the title shot with a victory after failing to make weight, White responded, "Probably not."
- When pressed on his future plans and whether he'll feel conflicted when his teammate Josh Koscheck fights for the welterweight belt later this year, Jon Fitch claimed that he had not and could not think beyond his impending nuptials:
"The only thing on my mind right now is I'm getting married in three weeks. ...Talk to me after September 4."
Naturally, White chose to interpret this as a sign that Fitch might be open to fighting Koscheck, should Koscheck take the belt from Georges St. Pierre:
"What I believe of Jon Fitch and what I know of Josh Koscheck, I think both these guys have the desire, the heart, and the spirit to take this fight."
Fitch offered no response, aside from a slightly incredulous look in White's direction.
- Though he's riding a three-fight win streak after choking out Ricardo Almeida, former champ Matt Hughes was non-committal about his future in the UFC, saying he'd take the fall off to enjoy some hunting and would "talk with the UFC and figure out what we're going to do" some time in early 2011.
Of the choke that put Almeida out, Hughes said it was something he used often in his college wrestling days: "I could get people to go unconscious back then, so it's something I've always been good at."
White added, "Chuck Liddell came up to me afterwards and said he used to see that in wrestling and it was completely illegal because you couldn't choke people out. He said only a moose like Hughes could pull that one off."
- After his strong – and sometimes baffling – pre-fight remarks, Chael Sonnen stated in no uncertain terms that he had no regrets about the way he had conducted himself:
"I don't apologize for anything, I never did, and if I ever backed off from my stance I would send myself a pink slip and move on in life. I have one goal, it's to be the world champion, and I'm not backing off that goal because of tonight's decision. ...I'm not Dog the Bounty Hunter. I don't issue apologies and you're not going to be the first to get one out of me."
When asked if he regretted his decision not to try and stall for the last remaining minutes of the fight, Sonnen said he didn't completely realize how close the fight was to being over when he was submitted:
"He hit me real hard a couple times. He kicked me real hard a couple times. You're just in the middle of a fistfight on a Saturday night. There's not a lot of thinking. A lot of people like to talk about strategy and thinking and blah, blah, blah. It's a fistfight in the middle of Oakland, California in a steel cage."
- As for Anderson Silva, his mind was with his family after the dramatic come-from-behind victory:
"The one thing I was thinking about, I was thinking about my home. I was thinking about my kids, my family, my wife. I haven't seen them in three months. I was thinking about my grandmother who passed away three weeks ago. I was thinking about my family and I couldn't wait to get back home to see them."
- The sudden finish to his bout with Rafael dos Anjos came as something of a surprise to Clay Guida, who was unaware that the Brazilian was suffering from an injured jaw:
"I was a little confused too. I was putting pressure on that shoulder in his jaw against the cage, and he tapped. I didn't know if he thought I was doing something illegal."
- And finally, on the issue of a potential rematch with Silva, Sonnen made his intentions as clear as possible as the presser came to a close:
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