FanHouse UFC104

UFC heavyweight Pat Barry earned a $120,000 bonus on top of his $14,000 fight purse for his victory last month at UFC 104 in Los Angeles. A dramatic increase in wealth and recognition, especially for someone who, a week prior, had nothing to his name, was eating rice and ketchup, and was still hopelessly awaiting acceptance from a former mentor.

Barry improved his MMA record to 5-1 by stopping former training partner Antoni Hardonk in the second round with punches. For Barry, who has been competing since 2002, it took much more than a single training camp and enduring two accidental eye pokes and leg kicks during the fight for his big payday.

"People think it took seven-and-a-half minutes to make all this money," Barry told FanHouse. "It took seven years to make this. This wasn't seven-and-a-half minutes of work. This is seven years straight -- no family, not around my friends, not married, I got no kids. It's just me on the grind, chasing the dream. It took seven years to finally make a payday."

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On this week's edition of The MMA Hour, we were joined by Dan Hardy, who faces Mike Swick in a No. 1 contender's match at UFC 105 on Nov. 14. Hardy talked about getting a shot to fight for the title early in his UFC career, MMA's popularity in the United Kingdom, and his recent criticism of Bernard Hopkins after the boxing legend blasted MMA.

Later in the show, we spoke to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker about the upcoming Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers bout on Nov. 7, the Dan Henderson sweepstakes, and when we should expect to see Gina Carano return to action. Ray Hui and I also looked back at UFC 104 and Brock Lesnar having to pull out of his title fight at UFC 106.

Watch or listen to the show below.

Lyoto Machida's unanimous decision victory over Shogun Rua at UFC 104 has been the talk of the MMA world this week, because hardly anyone who watched the fight agreed with the three judges that Machida won it. Count Randy Couture among those who think Shogun deserved to win.

"I thought Shogun came out with an interesting game plan, stuck to it, and it proved to be pretty effective," Couture said Wednesday in an interview with FanHouse. "I thought his leg kicks controlled the tempo and did the most damage. I was surprised by the judges' decision -- I thought it went the other way -- but it was a great fight."

Couture said he'd stop short of the cries of "robbery" or "outrage" that some fans have expressed, but he said he scored it 49-46 for Shogun, and he had a hard time seeing the fight as 48-47 for Machida, which is how all three judges scored it.

UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida walked away with $200,000 and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua with $155,000 for main eventing this past Saturday's UFC 104, according to salaries disclosed to FanHouse Tuesday by the California athletic commission.

Machida won a unanimous decision over Rua to retain his belt, but even if he had lost the controversial five-round showdown, he would have still earned the same amount as there was no win bonus attached to his bout agreement.

LOS ANGELES -- The UFC 104 post-fight press conference was buzzing after the controversial main event between Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua.

Below is a highlight video package of the conference, which featured comments from Machida, Rua, Dana White, Cain Velasquez, Joe Stevenson and Anthony Johnson.

(Warning: video contains some explicit language.)

If the Lyoto Machida-Shogun Rua fight at UFC 104 had gone the way everyone expected -- Machida handily defeating Shogun to retain his title -- the UFC would have faced a quandary with its light heavyweight division. Machida would be perceived as so dominant that there wouldn't be any particularly interesting fights for him, and the stacked UFC light heavyweight division might have started to feel a little stale.

That's why Machida's controversial unanimous decision victory on Saturday night was a great thing for the UFC: It sets up a Rua-Machida rematch that will be a bigger fight than the first one, and it buys time for the UFC to re-establish some of its other light heavyweights as contenders to take on the Rua-Machida 2 winner.

LOS ANGELES -- Joe Stevenson looked like the happiest man in California on Saturday night before and after his UFC 104 victory over Spencer Fisher. When FanHouse spoke to "Joe Daddy" about his second-round submission win, he praised the work of his new coach, Greg Jackson, and said that he now has a new lease on life.

Stevenson also explained why he believed Fisher was "oily" during the fight and why his dream match would be against Shinya Aoki. Check out the full video interview below.

LOS ANGELES -- Whether or not you believe the Cain Velasquez-Ben Rothwell UFC 104 fight was finished early on Saturday night, it would be difficult to deny the fact that Velasquez dominated "Big Ben" for the entire fight. The now 7-0 Velasquez continues to improve each and every time he fights, and when FanHouse spoke to him at the post-fight press conference he said he was ready to face the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin heavyweight title fight at UFC 106 next month.

Velasquez also talked about whether or not he believed the fight was stopped early and his thoughts on his performances. Check out the video below.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua won over the fans, but it was Lyoto Machida who walked away with the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 104 Saturday in Los Angeles.

In a very close fight, Machida won on the scorecards 48-47 through five rounds. According to the judges, two gave Machida the first three rounds and one gave the retaining champ rounds two, three and four.

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LOS ANGELES -- Chael Sonnen was very vocal prior to his UFC 104 fight against Yushin Okami about being disappointed with his placement on the card, but after his dominating victory on Saturday, Sonnen told FanHouse that he is very much a player in the UFC's middleweight division. Sonnen also talked about who he would like to fight next.

Check out the video interview below.