| UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | February 5, 2011 | |||
| Venue | Mandalay Bay Events Center | |||
| City | Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Attendance | 10,893[1] | |||
| Total gate | $3,600,000[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 725,000[2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort was amixed martial artspay-per-view event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on February 5, 2011, at theMandalay Bay Events Center inLas Vegas, Nevada.[3]
FormerLight Heavyweight ChampionVitor Belfort was scheduled to fightYushin Okami atUFC 122.[4] However, UFC PresidentDana White said that Belfort would instead challengeMiddleweight ChampionAnderson Silva for the belt.[5] Belfort was originally scheduled to compete against Silva on January 2, 2010, atUFC 108, but due to an injury sustained by Silva, the fight had to be postponed until February 6, 2010, atUFC 109 and April 10, 2010, atUFC 112, respectively. However, both fights were cancelled.[6][7]
A bout betweenKenny Florian andEvan Dunham was expected for this event. The fight was moved toUFC: Fight For The Troops 2.[8]
A bout betweenJon Fitch andJake Ellenberger was expected for this event. However Fitch was pulled from the bout and instead fought former two-divisionchampionB.J. Penn atUFC 127.[9] Ellenberger remained on the card and instead foughtCarlos Eduardo Rocha.
Sam Stout was originally scheduled to facePaul Kelly at this event, but dropped off of the card due to injury.Donald Cerrone stepped in to replace him, in what would become the first UFClightweight fight featuring a fighter imported from theWorld Extreme Cagefighting following their merger in December 2010.[10]
UFC 126 featured two preliminary fights live on Spike TV,[11] and one preliminary fight on theirFacebook stream.[12]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Anderson Silva (c) | def. | Vitor Belfort | KO (front kick and punches) | 1 | 3:25 | [a] |
| Light Heavyweight | Forrest Griffin | def. | Rich Franklin | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones | def. | Ryan Bader | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 4:20 | |
| Welterweight | Jake Ellenberger | def. | Carlos Eduardo Rocha | Decision (split) (27–30, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Miguel Torres | def. | Antonio Banuelos | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (Spike) | |||||||
| Lightweight | Donald Cerrone | def. | Paul Kelly | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 3:48 | |
| Featherweight | Chad Mendes | def. | Michihiro Omigawa | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (Facebook) | |||||||
| Bantamweight | Demetrious Johnson | def. | Norifumi Yamamoto | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Lightweight | Paul Taylor | def. | Gabe Ruediger | KO (head kick and punches) | 2 | 1:42 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Kyle Kingsbury | def. | Ricardo Romero | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:21 | |
| Welterweight | Mike Pierce | def. | Kenny Robertson | KO (punches) | 2 | 0:29 | |
The following fighters received $75,000 bonuses.[13]
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to theNevada State Athletic Commission.[14] The numbers only include figures that UFC disclosed to the athletic commission; fight bonuses, sponsorship fees, and other unofficial bonuses were not disclosed.
