The following is from the Canadian Press:
UFC champion Hughes earns $130,000 for tough title defence against B.J. Penn
19:15:14 EDT Oct 3, 2006
Canadian Press: NEIL DAVIDSON
(CP) – UFC champion Matt Hughes earned US$130,000 for his successful welterweight title defence against B.J. Penn at UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn in Anaheim, according to the California State Athletic Commission.
Half of that was in the form of a win bonus for the 32-year-old from Hillsboro, Ill., who raised his record to 41-4-0 with a third-round TKO over Penn. The Hawaiian challenger earned $50,000.
Hughes, who said prior to the fight he had no complaints about his UFC paydays, earned $110,000 for his last title defence. Light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell, the UFC's marquee name, collected $275,000 for his title defence against Renato (Babalu) Sobral at UFC 62 in Las Vegas in August.
The Sept. 23 Hughes-Penn card drew 9,300 to the Honda Center, formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond, for a gate of $1,496,067, according to the California commission.
The UFC does not provide sales figures on its lucrative pay-per-view audience. The Hughes-Penn card cost C$39.99 to see in Canada.
According to figures supplied by the commission, the 18 fighters on the card earned a combined US$332,000.
Montreal middleweight David (The Crow) Loiseau picked up $9,000 in losing to Mike (Quick) Swick, who earned $14,000.
Former lightweight champion Jens (Little Evil) Pulver took home $30,000 for his upset loss to Joe Lauzon, who made $6,000. Rashad Evans' win over Jason Lambert was worth $24,000, compared to $9,000 for the loser.
Paycheques for the other fighters were $10,000 or less.
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Pride Matchups: Vancouver's Denis Kang will take on Japan's Akhiro Gono in the semifinals of Pride's welterweight Grand Prix on Nov. 5 in Yokohama, Japan. Kazuo Misaki of Japan will fight Brazil's Paulo Filho in the other semifinal, with the two winners deciding the title the same night.
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TKO in Montreal: TKO lightweight champion Sam Stout of London, Ont., submitted No. 1 challenger Jay Estrada at 1:21 of the second round at TKO 27: Resurrection last Friday before more than 6,000 at Montreal's Bell Centre. Mark Hominick of Thamesford, Ont., downed replacement opponent Samuel Guillet via decision. TKO heavyweight champion Icho Larenas of Montreal lost to Krzystof Soszynski on a doctor's stoppage because of a cut.
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Dragons Rise: Coach Carlos Newton and the Toronto Dragons, coming off their 3-2 win over Frank Shamrock's Razorclaws of San Jose, will take on Pat Miletich's Silverbacks (based in Quad Cities, Ill.) in the International Fight League semifinals in Portland on Nov. 2. The other semifinal pits Bas Rutten's Anacondas (based in Los Angeles) against Matt Lindland's Wolfpack, the home team. The two winners will advance to the IFL World Team Championship in December.
In the Dragons' debut outing Sept. 23 in Moline, Ill., lightweight Rob Di Censo of Woodbridge, Ont., lost to the Razorclaws' Josh Odom on a third-round TKO before Toronto welterweight Claude Patrick won by guillotine choke over Ray Steinbeiss. Winnipeg middleweight Joe Doerksen then scored a second-round submission over Brian Foster and Montreal light-heavyweight Brent Beauparlant won a decision over Raphael Davis. In the final match, heavyweight Travis Wiuff of the Razorclaws won by decision over Wojtek Kaszowski of Mississauga, Ont.
