One person that couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday night was Joseph Benavidez who not only posted a dominant win over former bantamweight king Miguel Torres, but also walked away from “WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz” as the evening’s top earner.
Benavidez pocketed $14,500 to show and doubled it with his 2ndRound submission victory of Torres. The Alpha Male-trained fighter was awarded an extra $10,000 for his guillotine choke as it earned him Submission of the Night honors – bringing his WEC 47 grand total to $39,000.
Torres was the card’s second highest paid contestant as he earned $26,000 to post just his second loss in 19 fights.
Here are the official paydays reported to the Ohio Athletic Commission, courtesy of MMAFighting.com
Preliminary Bouts:
Scott Jorgensen ($8,000+$8,000 = $16,000) def. Chad George ($3,000)
Chad Mendes ($4,000+$4,000 = $8,000) def. Erik Koch ($3,000)
Anthony Pettis ($3,000+$3,000 = $6,000) def. Danny Castillo ($9,500)
Leonard Garcia ($14,000) vs. George Roop ($3,000) split draw
Fredson Paixao ($2,000+$2,000 = $4,000) def. Courtney Buck ($3,000)
Ricardo Lamas ($5,000+$5,000 = $10,000) def. Bendy Casimir ($3,000)Main Bouts:
Bart Palaszewski ($6,000+$6,000 = $ 12,000) def. Karen Darabedyan ($4,000)
LC Davis ($9,000+$9,000 = $18,000) def. Deividas Taurosevicius ($9,000)
Javier Vazquez ($6,000+$6,000 = $12,000) def. Jens Pulver ($14,000)
Joseph Benavidez ($14,500+$14,500 = $29,000) def. Miguel Torres ($26,000)
Dominick Cruz ($9,000+$9,000 = $18,000) def. Brian Bowles ($12,000)Fight Bonuses:
Fight of the Night: Leonard Garcia and George Roop ($10,000/each)
Submission of the Night: (Joseph Benavidez $10,000)
Knockout of the Night: (Anthony Pettis $10,000)