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Chael had a hell of a fight tonight," said Silva, who improved to 12-0 inside the UFC. "I knew that I was losing the first four rounds, but, you know, not to make any excuses, about a week and a half ago, I hurt my ribs. The doctor asked me not to come in and fight, but for you guys and for the UFC, I came in here and put it all out on the line."

All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, Sonnen secured takedowns in three of the five rounds and wound up in top position in all five. He absorbed his share of damage, as Silva picked his spots with elbows from the bottom, one of which cut Sonnen badly above the left eye. As the two middleweights entered Round 5, the heavily favored champion found himself in an unfamiliar state of desperation, needing a stoppage to retain his title.

Silva finally was able to slip his legs around Sonnen's neck and left arm to quickly cinch the triangle choke and moments later the armbar as well, until the challenger tapped.Sonnen, whose has always relied mainly on his outstanding wrestling, took down Silva every round and methodically wore him down with short punches to the head and body. A seemingly lethargic Silva generated little offense from the bottom, other than occasional elbows, including one that opened a deep cut near Sonnen's left eyelid in the fourth round.

It was the first time in his UFC career that Silva has come close to losing. Knowing he was far behind on the scorecards in the final round forced him to go for a decisive finish, a marked change from the lackluster decision wins of his last three title defenses.He has a black belt from the Nogueira brothers, which is like getting a toy in your Happy Meal, if you ask me," Sonnen said.But jiu-jitsu defense has been Sonnen's achilles heel throughout his career. Submission holds have now caused seven of his 11 defeats.Silva scored a come-from-behind fifth-round submission victory to defend his middleweight belt against Chael Sonnen in the night's highly anticipated main event.

Fitch edged fellow welterweight contender Thiago Alves in the co-headliner, and former 170-pound champ Hughes submitted Ricardo Almeida in a featured bout.The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter's income. They also do not include any other "locker room" or special bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. They also do not include portions of the PPV revenue that some top-level fighters receive.