''UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event held by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC) on November 15, 2008, at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Background

The main event featured the return of

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thou ...

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former United States Army, U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and former Collegiate wrestling, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman ...

versus

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist (MMA), amateur wrestler, and professional American football player who holds both American and Canadian citizenship. He is ...

in a title bout. The decision to grant Lesnar—who was 1–1 in UFC fights at the time—the title shot was controversial at the time. Some felt it was premature and marketing driven, while others argued the relative lack of depth in the heavyweight division at the time left no clear-cut contenders to the belt.

Matthew Riddle Matthew Fredrick Riddle (born January 14, 1986, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, but is currently inactive due t ...

was forced to withdraw from his bout with

Ryan Thomas Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

due to an injury. He was replaced by Matt Brown.

Amir Sadollah Amir Ali Sadollah ( fa, امیرعلی ﺳﻌدالله, born August 27, 1980) is a retired American mixed martial artist, formerly with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the winner of Spike TV's '' The Ultimate Fighter 7''. He has fough ...

withdrew from his fight against

Nick Catone Nicholas Catone (born September 1, 1981) is a retired American mixed martial artist. Catone competed most recently in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in their Middleweight division. Mixed martial arts career Wrestling Catone began wrestling ...

due to a leg infection. A replacement for Sadollah could not be found, therefore the middleweight bout was pulled from the card. A welterweight match between

Dustin Hazelett Dustin Tyler Hazelett (born April 29, 1986) is a retired American mixed martial artist who had fought as a Welterweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Hazelett was born in Louisa, Kentucky, USA. Hazelett began training in mar ...

and

Tamdan McCrory Tamdan Wade McCrory (born November 5, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist who formerly competed in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2006, McCrory has also formerl ...

, previously scheduled for the preliminary card, was moved to the main card. Unlike most UFC fight cards, every bout was aired on the PPV broadcast due to the quick endings of the main card bouts. Also future Lightweight champion

Rafael dos Anjos Rafael Souza dos Anjos (; born October 26, 1984) is a Brazilian American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former UFC Light ...

made his UFC debut at this event.

Results

Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $60,000 bonuses. *Fight of the Night: Aaron Riley vs.

Jorge Gurgel Jorge Valente Gurgel (; ; born January 25, 1977) is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division. A professional competitor from 2002 to 2014, Gurgel is best known as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 2 and ...

*Knockout of the Night:

Jeremy Stephens Jeremy Stephens (born May 26, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of Professional Fighters League (PFL). A professional since 2005, he spent 15 years and competed in 33 bouts in the UFC ...

*Submission of the Night:

Purses

The total payroll for the event was $1,118,000. Brock Lesnar: $450,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus) def. Randy Couture: $250,000 Kenny Florian: $80,000 ($40,000 win bonus) def. Joe Stevenson: $35,000 Dustin Hazelett: $28,000 ($14,000 win bonus) def. Tamdan McCrory: $10,000 Gabriel Gonzaga: $110,000 ($55,000 win bonus) def. Josh Hendricks: $8,000 Demian Maia: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus) def. Nate Quarry: $25,000 Aaron Riley: $8,000 ($4,000 win bonus) def. Jorge Gurgel: $10,000 Jeremy Stephens: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Rafael dos Anjos: $4,000 Mark Bocek: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus) def. Alvin Robinson: $7,000 Matt Brown $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Ryan Thomas: $3,000

References

External links