UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida was a mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

 (UFC) on May 23, 2009 in Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

.

Background

A title unification match between the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir

Frank Mir

Francisco Santos Miranda is an American mixed martial artist, as well as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kenpō Karate, who competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion...

 and UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar

Brock Edward Lesnar is an American mixed martial artist, actor and a former professional and amateur wrestler. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and is ranked the No.5 Heavyweight in the world by Sherdog...

 was originally slated to be the main event, but was postponed until UFC 100

UFC 100

UFC 100 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 11, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Background:...

 due to a knee injury to Mir.

By way of replacement, Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson

Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...

, former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, was to fight the undefeated current champion Rashad Evans but had to undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair ligament damage in his jaw that he received in a previous training camp. Instead, Evans headlined the card against fellow undefeated contender Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a Japanese-Brazilian mixed martial artist from Belém, Brazil who fights as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...

.

The card featured the long anticipated grudge match between The Ultimate Fighter 6 coaches Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

Due to injury, Josh Koscheck

Josh Koscheck

Josh D. Koscheck is an American mixed martial artist from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, a former collegiate wrestling champion and is currently fighting at welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He made his debut with the organization on the first season of the reality television show,...

 was not able to participate on this card. Brock Larson stepped in as the new opponent for Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson (fighter)

Christopher Ross Wilson is an American mixed martial arts fighter. Wilson is a former competitor in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. He lost his UFC debut to Jon Fitch at UFC 82...

. Unfortunately, Chris Wilson was unable to complete the necessary medical paperwork in order to compete at UFC 98 and was replaced by Mike Pyle.

James Irvin

James Irvin (fighter)

James Lee Irvin is an American mixed martial artist who has competed as a Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, and currently as a Heavyweight. He is a former World Extreme Cagefighting heavyweight champion...

 was set to make his Middleweight debut against Drew McFedries, but was not able to fight due to a knee injury. Xavier Foupa-Pokam stepped in to fight McFedries.

Yushin Okami

Yushin Okami

is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He currently fights at middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Okami is currently ranked the #3 best middleweight in the world by Sherdog and the #2 best middleweight by MMAWeekly....

 was set to fight Dan Miller on the main card but was injured and taken off the card, Okami suffered a torn ligament. Early reports suggested Ed Herman would replace Okami, however Chael Sonnen stepped in to take the bout.

Houston Alexander

Houston Alexander

Houston Alexander is an American professional mixed martial artist, who fights as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. He also works as a DJ in North Omaha, Nebraska...

 was scheduled to fight Andre Gusmao, but was forced to pull out due to a broken hand. Krzysztof Soszynski stepped in to fight Gusmao.

Preliminary card

• Lightweight bout:   Dave Kaplan
  Dave Kaplan
  David Michael Kaplan is an American mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.-Background:...
  
   vs.   George Roop
  George Roop
  George H. Roop is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He was a cast member of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir, winning his preliminary and first round fights...
  
  

Roop defeated Kaplan via split decision (30–27, 30–27, 28–29).

• Welterweight bout:   Yoshiyuki Yoshida
  Yoshiyuki Yoshida
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist competing in the welterweight division. A student of former Shooto competitor Noboru Asahi, he has competed in Shooto, Cage Force, and the UFC...
  
   vs.   Brandon Wolff
  Brandon Wolff
  Brandon W.K. Wolff is an American mixed martial artist and former Navy SEAL. He has a twin brother, Brenton, who has followed the same path. He made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in 2008 at UFC: Fight for the Troops, where he suffered a technical knockout loss to Ben Saunders after a...
  
  

Yoshida defeated Wolff via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:24 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight bout:   Krzysztof Soszynski
  Krzysztof Soszynski
  Krzysztof Soszyński is a Polish-Canadian mixed martial artist. He fought for the Los Angeles Anacondas of the International Fight League . After the demise of that organization, he moved to the UFC, appearing on season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter...
  
   vs.   Andre Gusmao
  Andre Gusmao
  André Machado Gusmão is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He is a veteran of the International Fight League where he fought for Renzo Gracie's New York Pitbulls, the IFL's 2007 league champions....
  
  

Soszynski defeated Gusmao via KO (punch) at 3:17 of round 1. This bout aired on the PPV broadcast following the McFedries vs. Foupa-Pokam fight.

• Lightweight bout:   Phillipe Nover
  Phillipe Nover
  Phillipe J. Nover , is an American mixed martial artist. He is best known for making it to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.-Mixed martial arts career:...
  
   vs.   Kyle Bradley
  Kyle Bradley
  Kyle James Bradley is an American mixed martial artist. He competes in the Lightweight division.- Career In The UFC :Bradley had a rough start in the UFC as he was knocked out quickly in the first by UFC vet Chris Lytle....
  
  

Bradley defeated Nover via TKO (punches) at 1:03 of round 1.

• Heavyweight bout:   Pat Barry vs.   Tim Hague
  Tim Hague
  Timothy Edward Lee Hague is a Canadian mixed martial artist. He is a former Heavyweight Champion of King of the Cage.- Biography :...
  
  

Hague defeated Barry via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:42 of round 1. This bout aired last on the PPV broadcast following the Larson vs. Pyle fight.

• Welterweight bout:   Brock Larson
  Brock Larson
  Brock Orville Larson is an American mixed martial artist from Brainerd, Minnesota. He most recently competed in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Larson also competed in World Extreme Cagefighting, before it discontinued its welterweight division, and on the...
  
   vs.   Mike Pyle
  Mike Pyle (fighter)
  Michael Wayne Pyle is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He held the WEC Welterweight Championship in 2005/6 before joining the IFL and UFC competitions. He holds notable victories over Jon Fitch, John Hathaway and Ricardo Almeida-Early life:Mike Pyle grew up in Dresden, Tennessee. At age...
  
  

Larson defeated Pyle via submission (arm triangle choke) at 3:06 of round 1. This bout aired on the PPV broadcast following the Evans vs. Machida fight.

Main card

• Lightweight bout:   Sean Sherk
  Sean Sherk
  Sean Keith Sherk is an American mixed martial arts fighter currently fighting for the UFC. He currently holds a professional mixed martial arts record of thirty-six wins, four losses and one draw. Sherk has fought in both the UFC and Pride FC, and is a former UFC Lightweight Champion...
  
   vs.   Frank Edgar
  Frank Edgar
  Frank James Edgar is an American mixed martial artist, who competes as a lightweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. His first and only career loss came against Gray Maynard in 2008, which marked the beginning of a noted rivalry...
  
  

Edgar defeated Sherk via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

• Middleweight bout:   Chael Sonnen
  Chael Sonnen
  Chael Patrick Sonnen is an American mixed martial artist who competes as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, a two-time University Greco national champion as well as the 85.0 kg silver medalist at...
  
   vs.   Dan Miller
  Dan Miller (fighter)
  Daniel James Miller is an American Middleweight mixed martial artist signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the older brother of fellow MMA fighter Jim Miller.-Martial arts background:...
  
  

Sonnen defeated Miller via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

• Middleweight bout:   Drew McFedries vs.   Xavier Foupa-Pokam
  Xavier Foupa-Pokam
  Xavier Foupa-Pokam is a French mixed martial artist from Paris. Foupa-Pokam is best known for his brief career in the Ultimate Fighting Championships in their middleweight division, and his long career in British MMA with promotions such as BAMMA and Cage Rage...
  
  

McFedries defeated Foupa-Pokam via TKO (punches) at 0:37 of round 1.

• Welterweight bout:   Matt Hughes
  Matt Hughes (fighter)
  Matthew Allen Hughes is an American mixed martial artist, UFC Hall of Famer, and former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion. Hughes put together two separate six-fight winning streaks in the UFC, won the welterweight title on two occasions, defended the belt a record seven times, and holds the...
  
   vs.   Matt Serra
  Matt Serra
  Matthew John Serra is an American mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. He is a former UFC Welterweight Champion and an ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship silver medalist. He began practicing martial arts at an early age, first studying kung fu...
  
  

Hughes defeated Serra via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

• Light Heavyweight Championship bout:   Rashad Evans
  Rashad Evans
  Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...
  
   (c) vs.   Lyoto Machida
  Lyoto Machida
  Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a Japanese-Brazilian mixed martial artist from Belém, Brazil who fights as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
  
  

Machida defeated Evans via KO (punches) at 3:57 of round 2 to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $60,000 bonuses.

• Fight of the Night:   Matt Hughes vs.   Matt Serra
• Knockout of the Night:   Lyoto Machida
• Submission of the Night:   Brock Larson

Reported payout

• Lyoto Machida: $140,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus) def. Rashad Evans: $200,000
• Matt Hughes: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus) def. Matt Serra: $75,000
• Drew McFedries: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus) def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam: $6,000
• Chael Sonnen: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus) def. Dan Miller: $15,000
• Frankie Edgar: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus) def. Sean Sherk: $40,000
• Brock Larson: $42,000 ($21,000 win bonus) def. Mike Pyle: $15,000
• Tim Hague: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus) def. Pat Barry: $7,000
• Kyle Bradley: $8,000 ($4,000 win bonus) def. Phillipe Nover: $10,000
• Krzysztof Soszynski: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Andre Gusmao: $5,000
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Brandon Wolff: $4,000
• George Roop: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. David Kaplan: $8,000