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MMA Junkie has a disconcerting, but not surprising report about the live attendance at UFC 92:

of the 14,166 attendees, a total 4,465 – nearly a third of the overall crowd – were issued complimentary tickets, according to an email today sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer.

Only 9,701 were paid attendees.

However, despite a lower-than-usual percentage of paid attendees, UFC 92 still garnered a live gate of $3,468,440 – just two days after Christmas. It was the fifth-highest gate total among the 12 events that have been held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the UFC's 15-year history.

It's not news that the economy is terrible, especially in Las Vegas. It's also not news that Zuffa triple-dipped Vegas with UFC 91, 92 and 94 back-to-back-to-back in their home town.

Nevertheless, it's a clear indicator that current conditions are very different from the high-water mark of Las Vegas shows at the end of 2006 but Zuffa is still making good money even in hard times.

 

In a size comparision picture with Brock Lesnar. Check out Ishii and Randy Couture after the jump.

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HT: MMAMania.com

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The fight summary tells the story:

Inside The Numbers: Mir’s standup game the surprise of the night.  He set the pace from the opening bell, throwing 86 total strikes in round one.  He landed a combined 32 arm and leg strikes in the round to just 10 for Nogueira, who was knocked down twice. 

Overall stats for the fight:

aFl tats

Mir		Nogueira
57/119	Total Strikes Landed/Thrown	19/60
48%	Percentage	32%
30/74	Total Arm Strikes Landed/Thrown	12/50
41%	Percentage	24%
29	Power Strikes Landed	9
1	Clinch Strikes Landed	3
12/17	Total Leg Strikes Landed/Thrown	3/4
71%	Percentage	75%
10	Kicks Landed	2
2	Knees Landed	1
15/28	Ground Strikes Landed/Thrown	4/6
54%	Percentage	67%
1	Takedowns	0
0	Submission Attempts	0
0	Reversals	0
0	Dominant Positions	0

HT: Baudelaire

I think this was a great card.  Three huge main events, all three delivered a decisive finish, and all of the boring fights were on the undercard.

If Rampage can get his legal stuff taken care of, I would love to see him fight Rashad.  People are surprised by Quinton's style every time out now, but he has been a counter-puncher ever since moving over with Juanito.  He would have finished Forrest the same way if Forrest hadn't found his weakness in leg kick defense.  The reason I picked Rampage in this fight is because his crisp boxing and ability to throw short hard punches while avoiding oncoming stuff is unparalleled in the UFC, and it is perfectly suited for Silva's striking style.  I really think that if they fought 10 times in 2008 Quinton would win the vast majority of those fights.

I don't think Wanderlei Silva is done.  Who among us would say he has no chance against Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, or Thiago Silva?  He also survived one hell of a beating from Chuck last December.  I think the only story coming out of this is that his wild style can be picked apart by a great striker, but we already knew that.

Frank Mir and Antonio Nogueira was one of the oddest fights I've seen in a long time.  Nogueira is actually quite a good boxer, which made it all the more puzzling that he couldn't handle a lead uppercut followed by a left straight over and over.  The uppercuts were coming from far away too, Mir was wide open for a left hook, but Nogueira just never was able to pull the trigger.

All that being said, Frank Mir deserves a huge amount of credit.  Nobody can ever take it away from him that he was the first to stop Nogueira.  His comeback is an incredible story, and he obviously found a way to win.  I still think it made sense to predict Nogueira, even Mir thought he would lose.  As much as Mir annoyed me last week, his interview was amazing and he obviously proved me completely wrong.

The main event was a great fight; I got the feeling that Evans was going to have to win in the third round or the kicks were going to start wearing him down.  Forrest had a good game plan and fought well for two rounds, but he took way too many shots upon going down.  The stoppage was also way late in my view.

There's a lot coming out of the show, most notably Mir/Lesnar, Couture/Nogueira, and potentially Rashad/Rampage if the legal stuff is straightened out.  Forrest Griffin broke his hand, so he will probably be out a while because he will have to wait to start a new camp.  Personally I think Forrest/Jardine 2 is a match that makes a lot of sense at this point.

Spotted during the untelevised Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister bout.

From MMAFighting:

In a conversation transcribed by Kamipro ([Dana White's] quotes here are translated from Japanese print), Ishii expressed his desire to train in the US and asked White for recommendations, to which the UFC head suggested Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Georges St. Pierre, the American Kick Boxing Academy in San Jose or Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

One place White didn't recommend was when the judoka brought up Russia.

"If you are serious about MMA, Russia is not the place you should go," [Dana] White said. "Stay in the US. The best fighters and trainers are in the US now.

"I want to invite you to Las Vegas for a month and let you train at Randy's gym. What do you think?"

"Awesome," Ishii replied.

"You will learn about real MMA fighters through training with best fighters," White said. "I will evaluate you based on what Randy's trainer think about you."

UPDATE: The UFC issued a press release today announcing that Ishii has "started exclusive negotiations to enter into a contract with" the organization.

"Satoshi Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial arts," said Dana White, UFC President. "We can't wait to start working with Mr. Ishii, we look forward to helping him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional fight."

Evans-Griffin:

Mir-Nogueira:

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Yours truly talking Mir on June 20, 2006 just prior to his fight with Dan Christison at UFC 61:

I've pored over all of the MMA message boards and websites; I've searched Google to see if his name has been mentioned in any news or online articles; and I've listened to every major piece of MMA media (tv shows, PPV specials, radio shows). It is as if Frank Mir disappeared, hiding from the spotlight of attention for fear of overexposure. Hell, even Mark Kerr made some waves recently at AFC when he failed to fight Wes Sims and Kerr is as relevant as Fred Ettish to the modern UFC roster.

In some sense, of course, this is all understandable: his long absence from the Octagon due to his motorcycle accident made fans impatient, though it did help to create some anticipation for an eventual and majestic return. His absence was still forgivable until Mir was stripped of the title and Arovski beat Sylvia for the Interim Heavyweight Championship (in convincing fashion, no less). And truthfully, that was still all forgivable since the interim champ isn't really the champ, just a champ.

But then something strange happened. Gone was the anticipation of his return; gone were the endless "what if's" that surrounded his progress and talk of his injury; gone were the circulations of his name as a rightful holder or even contender to the belt. Mir was gone so long that even mentioning his name and the belt in the same sentence was no longer coherent.

To boot, the UFC had been building Arlovksi in his absence very successfully and with his reign of terror in 2005, Arlovski made himself extremely marketable. A series of wins via KO and a metrosexual makeover do wonders for a fighter's career. At this point, it is clear the UFC realized that hyping Mir over Arlovki no longer resonated with fans and wasn't going to give their current golden boy the attention he and they needed.

But none of this is particularly controversial or difficult to figure out. What is difficult to understand, for me at any rate, is why the lack of coverage continues. After all, Mir is fighting on the UFC 61 card on July 8. And since his career depends on this win, you'd think a little more attention would go his way (however, the fight between Rodriguez and Rizzo was a must-win for both and they still failed to impress).

Perhaps the MMA media burned out on coverage of an eventual Mir comeback. Perhaps there is information circulating among the MMA elite that I'm not privy to which makes clear Mir's comeback will never happen. Truth is I don't know and I'm still speculating as to why this is the case. But what I do know is the current UFC Heavyweight roster could use a shot in the arm and Mir is a man who could do it. Like the Count of Monte Cristo (ok, the analogy doesn't quite work), Mir the forgotten fighter returning to rightfully claim what is his would make for an extremely compelling story line. Understandably, after his loss to Pe De Pano the UFC is apprehensive about getting behind him for fear of having egg on their face yet again. But if Mir can muster the will and the ability to win again, 2006/2007 would make for some interesting heavyweight fights in the UFC.

How would up-and-comer Brandon Vera fare against Mir? What about Abu Dhabi Champ Monson? Could Mir submit him like he did Travern? And if he made it to that point, what about a re-match with Sylvia? Would he be as successful this time? And can Mir pull of the submission win over Arlovski? Can he regain the dominance he once held over the heavyweights?

It is stunning to read blog posts from over two years ago to see just how much has changed in modern MMA. And the resurrection of Frank Mir from undercard ghost to Interim UFC heavyweight champion is nothing short of stunning. Mir got a second chance on a career that was inches away from falling off of a cliff. A stunning turnaround for a career and a personal transformation for a person.

Congratulations, champ.