THE CANADIAN PRESS
Former champion boxer James (Lights Out) Toney made US$500,000 for his short-lived MMA debut, a first-round submission loss to Randy (The Natural) Couture at UFC 118 last weekend in Boston.
That works out to more than $2,500 a second in the Octagon for Toney, although the 42-year-old heavyweight did spend some nine months training in mixed martial arts.
Toney’s purse was released Thursday by the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission.
Couture, a UFC Hall of Famer who has held both the light-heavyweight and heavyweight titles, earned a basic purse of $250,000 for dispatching the pudgy boxer in three minutes 19 seconds at the TD Garden.
Couture, 47, took Toney to the ground within 15 seconds of the bell sounding, pummelling him from above before finishing him off with an arm triangle.
According to FightMetric, which handles UFC statistics, Couture landed 41 of 50 strikes while Toney was good on four of six.
In the main event, Frankie (The Answer) Edgar collected a basic purse of $96,000 in defending his lightweight title against B.J. (The Prodigy) Penn. Edgar’s purse includes a $48,000 win bonus.
Penn, who lost the 155-pound championship to Edgar at UFC 112 in April, made $150,000 — missing out on a further $150,000 win bonus.
The commission figures do not tell the whole story, however. The UFC only divulges certain bonuses and elite fighters usually get a cut of the lucrative pay-per-view.
It’s likely the UFC topped off Edgar’s purse in some fashion, probably to match or exceed Penn’s ultimate payout.
Welterweight Nate Diaz picked up $120,000, including a $30,000 bonus and $60,000 for fight of the night, for his third-round submission of Marcus (The Irish Hand Grenade) Davis.
Davis made $91,000, including his $60,000 fight of the night bonus.
Both fighters received 60-day medical suspensions. Davis, whose face was a bloody, swollen mess by the end of the bout, needs a CT scan before he is cleared to fight again. Diaz’s ban will be extended to 180 days if his nose requires treatment.
According to FightMetric, the two combined for 531 “significant strike attempts,” a UFC record for a three-round fight. Diaz had 328 strike attempts compared to 203 for Davis.
Lightweight Joe Lauzon also enjoyed a profitable night, collecting $84,000 — includes a win bonus of $12,000 and $60,000 for submission of the night — in manhandling Gabe Ruediger.
Ruediger got $8,000 and a 30-day medical suspension for his troubles.
Lightweight Gray Maynard, next in line for a title shot, made $46,000 including a $23,000 win bonus for his win over Kenny Florian ($65,000). Florian faces a 45-day medical suspension, while Maynard got 30 days.
Middleweight Demian Maia collected $68,000 for stopping Mario Miranda ($8.000).
The first UFC card in Massachusetts drew 11,205 paying customers, producing a gate of about $2.8 million, according to the commission. The UFC gave out another 2,963 tickets for free.
The state got $112,000 — or four per cent of that gate — plus $75,000 in broadcast tax.
According to the UFC, some 40 per cent of those in attendance were from Massachusetts.
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Notes: Strikeforce star Brett (The Grim) Rogers will take on heavyweight Ruben (Warpath) Villareal in a W-1 show planned for Oct. 23 at the Halifax Forum. Also on the “New Ground” card, local favourite Roger (The Hulk) Hollett takes on light-heavyweight Mychal Clark and TUF bad boy Jamie Yager meets middleweight Jeremiah Hamilton. … Martin (The Stress) Desilet will defend his TFC light-heavyweight title against Victor (The Matrix) Valimaki at TFC 11 on Sept. 10 in Edmonton. Mitch Clarke takes on Josh Machan in an all-Alberta battle for the TFC lightweight crown.
