| UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | November 15, 2008 | |||
| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena | |||
| City | Las Vegas, Nevada | |||
| Attendance | 14,272 (10,845 paid)[1] | |||
| Total gate | $4,815,675[2] | |||
| Buyrate | 1,010,000[3] | |||
| Total purse | $1,118,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on November 15, 2008, at theMGM Grand Garden Arena inLas Vegas,Nevada.[4]
The main event featured the return ofUFCHeavyweight ChampionRandy Couture versusWWE'sBrock Lesnar in a title bout. The decision to grant Lesnar—who was 1–1 in UFC fights at the time, and 2-1 in MMA overall—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.[5]
Matthew Riddle was forced to withdraw from his bout withRyan Thomas due to an injury.[6] He was replaced byMatt Brown.[7]
Amir Sadollah withdrew from his fight againstNick Catone 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 betweenDustin Hazelett andTamdan McCrory, previously scheduled for the preliminary card, was moved to the main card.[8]
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 championRafael dos Anjos made his UFC debut at this event.
| Main card (PPV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Brock Lesnar | def. | Randy Couture (c) | TKO (punches) | 2 | 3:07 | [a] |
| Lightweight | Kenny Florian | def. | Joe Stevenson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 4:03 | |
| Welterweight | Dustin Hazelett | def. | Tamdan McCrory | Submission (armbar) | 1 | 3:59 | |
| Heavyweight | Gabriel Gonzaga | def. | Josh Hendricks | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:01 | |
| Middleweight | Demian Maia | def. | Nate Quarry | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:13 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Lightweight | Aaron Riley | def. | Jorge Gurgel | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Jeremy Stephens | def. | Rafael dos Anjos | KO (punches) | 3 | 0:39 | |
| Lightweight | Mark Bocek | def. | Alvin Robinson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 3:16 | |
| Welterweight | Matt Brown | def. | Ryan Thomas | Submission (armbar) | 2 | 0:57 | |
Fighters were awarded $60,000 bonuses.[9]
The total payroll for the event was $1,118,000.[10]
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
