| UFC 81: Breaking Point | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 81: Breaking Point | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | February 2, 2008 | |||
| Venue | Mandalay Bay Events Center | |||
| City | Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Attendance | 10,583 (7,167 paid) | |||
| Total gate | $2,437,890 | |||
| Buyrate | 650,000[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 81: Breaking Point was amixed martial arts (MMA) event held on February 2, 2008, by theUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at theMandalay Bay Events Center on theLas Vegas Strip.
The main event featuredTim Sylvia andAntônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira for the UFC Interim World Heavyweight Championship. UFC Heavyweight championRandy Couture declined a championship fight with Nogueira,[2] which resulted in the creation of the interim title.
This event also saw theUFC debut ofWWE wrestlerBrock Lesnar in a bout against former UFCheavyweight championFrank Mir.[3]
| Main card (PPV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira | def. | Tim Sylvia | Submission (guillotine choke) | 3 | 1:28 | [a] |
| Heavyweight | Frank Mir | def. | Brock Lesnar | Submission (kneebar) | 1 | 1:30 | [b] |
| Middleweight | Nate Marquardt | def. | Jeremy Horn | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 1:37 | |
| Middleweight | Ricardo Almeida | def. | Rob Yundt | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 1:08 | |
| Lightweight | Tyson Griffin | def. | Gleison Tibau | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Welterweight | Chris Lytle | def. | Kyle Bradley | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:33 | |
| Middleweight | Marvin Eastman | def. | Terry Martin | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Tim Boetsch | def. | David Heath | TKO (slam and punches) | 1 | 4:52 | |
| Lightweight | Rob Emerson | def. | Keita Nakamura | Decision (split) (30–27, 28–29, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
At the end of this event, $60,000 was awarded to each of the fighters who received one of these three awards.[4]
