| UFC 81: Breaking Point | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 81: Breaking Point | ||||
| Information | ||||
| 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 a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held on February 2, 2008, by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip.
The main event featured Tim Sylvia and Antônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira for the UFC Interim World Heavyweight Championship. UFC Heavyweight champion Randy Couture declined a championship fight with Nogueira, [2] which resulted in the creation of the interim title.
This event also saw the UFC debut of WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar in a bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. [3]
| Main card (PPV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira | def. | Tim Sylvia | Submission (guillotine choke) | 3 | 1:28 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Heavyweight | Frank Mir | def. | Brock Lesnar | Submission (kneebar) | 1 | 1:30 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| 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]
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is the twin brother of UFC fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Nogueira rose to prominence in Japanese promotions Fighting Network RINGS where he won the 2000 RINGS King of Kings tournament, and later with Pride Fighting Championships, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003, as well as a 2004 PRIDE FC Heavyweight Grand Prix Finalist. He is one of only three men to have held championship titles in both Pride Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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