First date January 14 Total events 32 (1 cancelled) UFC on Fox 4 | Last date December 29 UFC 14 (1 cancelled) UFC on FX 6 | |
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The year 2012 was the 20th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. 2012 started with UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes and ended with UFC 155: dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2. The year saw the successful UFC Featherweight title defense by José Aldo, the crowning of Carlos Condit as the Interim Welterweight Champion, a new Lightweight Champion in Benson Henderson, a tournament to crown the first UFC Flyweight Champion as well as the finales of The Ultimate Fighter 15 and The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.
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Debut UFC fighters
The following fighters fought their first UFC fight in 2012:
UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis
UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis (also known as UFC on Fox 2) was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 28, 2012 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Background
The event was the first to be broadcast on Fox as part of a seven-year agreement between the UFC and the network and the second to air live on Fox after the inaugural UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos.
A bout between Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Wineland was originally slated for this event. However, Johnson was pulled from the bout to be a participant in the UFC's Flyweight tournament set to begin in March. Wineland was then expected to face Johnny Bedford at this event. However, Wineland himself was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Mitch Gagnon. Then just days before the event, the bout was cancelled due to an alleged visa issue for Gagnon.
Paul Sass was expected to face Evan Dunham, but was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Nik Lentz.
Cody McKenzie was expected to face Michael Johnson at the event, but was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Shane Roller.
Mark Munoz was expected to face Chael Sonnen in a #1 contender's bout for a middleweight title shot, but Munoz was forced out of the bout with an injury. Michael Bisping, who was pulled from a scheduled fight with Demian Maia, replaced Munoz to face Sonnen in the #1 contender's bout. Chris Weidman would step in on 11 days notice to face Maia as Bisping's replacement.
The preliminary bout between Chris Camozzi and Dustin Jacoby was not aired on television or Facebook, making it the first bout on a UFC card to go unaired on the event's live broadcast since UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis in March 2011.
The event averaged 4.7 million viewers with a ratings peak of 6 million viewers for the main event.
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $65,000 bonuses.
UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger
UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger (also known as UFC on Fuel TV 1), was the first UFC event to air exclusively on Fuel TV. It was held on February 15, 2012 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time, the event was the most watched show ever aired on Fuel TV with 217,000 viewers tuning in.
Background
The main event consisted of Diego Sanchez facing Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger came into the match on a five fight win streak, four of which ended by stoppage, including one against Jake Shields. The fight against Ellenberger would become Sanchez's eighteenth fight with the UFC going back to April 2005 when he won The Ultimate Fighter 1. Ellenberger continued his win streak defeating Sanchez by unanimous decision.
Rani Yahya was expected to face Jonathan Brookins at the event. However, Yahya was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Vagner Rocha.
Promotional newcomers Yoislandy Izquierdo and Bernardo Magalhaes were expected to face each other at the event. However, Izquierdo was not allowed to compete due to a contractual dispute with another organization and was replaced by Tim Means.
A bout between Buddy Roberts and Sean Loeffler was scheduled for the preliminary card. However, the pairing was scrapped on the day of the event as Loeffler injured his ankle during a pre-fight warm up. With the loss of the Roberts/Loeffler bout, the event took place with only nine fights, making it the smallest fight card for the promotion since UFC 91 in 2008.
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses.
UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier
UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier (also known as UFC on Fuel TV 3) was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 15, 2012 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Initially, this event was referred to as UFC on FX 3, but was since clarified to be a Fuel TV event.
Background
Brandon Vera was briefly scheduled to face Thiago Silva in a rematch of their January 2011 bout. However, Vera was forced out of the bout with an injury. Igor Pokrajac stepped in to fight Silva. Silva was subsequently pulled from the bout to replace an injured Antônio Rogério Nogueira against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva. Pokrajac will now face Fabio Maldonado.
Yves Edwards was expected to face Donald Cerrone at the event, but Edwards was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Jeremy Stephens.
Mike Easton was expected to face Yves Jabouin at the event, but Easton was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Jeff Hougland who was previously expected to face Renan Barão at UFC 148.
Aaron Riley was expected to face Cody McKenzie at the event, but Riley was pulled from the event and replaced by promotional newcomer Marcus LeVesseur.
Azamat Gashimov was expected to make his promotional debut against Alex Soto. However, Gashimov was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by returning veteran Francisco Rivera.
The main event featured Chan Sung Jung facing Dustin Poirier. The winner of this bout was linked to a potential bout with José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship, but that fight did not materialize until 15 months later at UFC 163.
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $40,000 bonuses.
Reported payout
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses.
UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall
UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall (also known as UFC on FX 3) was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 8, 2012 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Background
A scoring controversy occurred at UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann consisting of a scoring error that night resulted in a majority draw between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall being announced as a victory for Johnson. Dana White announced the error following the conclusion of the event and that Johnson and McCall will have a rematch. The rematch was initially reported to happen at The Ultimate Fighter 15 Finale, but was later moved to this event to give this event (UFC on FX 3) a main event fight. Since then, it was announced by the UFC that the fight was to be the main event of UFC on FX 3.
The event was the first that the UFC has hosted in South Florida since UFC Fight Night 10 in 2007. This event also was the first UFC event to be headlined by a flyweight bout.
^Note 1
Flyweight Championship bracket
1 The initial semifinal bout between Johnson and McCall at UFC on FX 2 ended in a draw. Johnson defeated McCall in a rematch at UFC on FX 3
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $40,000.
Reported payout
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Florida State Boxing Commission. It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses.
UFC 149: Faber vs. Barão
UFC 149: Faber vs. Barão was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 21, 2012 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. It was the first event that the UFC has held in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Background
On April 24, due to a conflict with the UN Conference, the UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, which was originally scheduled to main event UFC 147 was moved to UFC 148 to serve as the new main event. Plans were then being made for Jose Aldo, who at the time was scheduled to defend his title at this event against an undetermined opponent, to headline UFC 147. However it was reported on April 28, 2012, that Aldo would remain on this card and defend his title against Erik Koch.
The bout between Michael Bisping and Tim Boetsch, originally scheduled for UFC 148, was moved to this event to help bolster this (the UFC 149) fight card. However, Bisping was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Hector Lombard.
Yoshihiro Akiyama was expected to face Thiago Alves at this event, but was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury and replaced by Siyar Bahadurzada. Then on June 1, Alves pulled out of the bout citing an injury and was replaced by Chris Clements. However, Bahadurzada was also forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Matthew Riddle.
Thiago Silva was expected to face Maurício Rua at the event. However, Silva was forced out of the bout with an injury and Rua was pulled from the event entirely, and would face Brandon Vera at UFC on Fox 4.
On June 4, 2012 it was announced that the UFC signed former DREAM champion Bibiano Fernandes. He was expected to compete against Roland Delorme. However, a week later it was announced that Fernandes was removed from the event due to injury but was later announced that Ferandes had not signed with the UFC. Francisco Rivera filled in to fight Delorme.
On June 9, 2012 it was announced that UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo was removed from the event due to injury. No replacement has yet been named for his scheduled opponent, Erik Koch. As a result, the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship fight between Urijah Faber and Renan Barão was rescheduled as the main event of the fight.
George Roop was scheduled to fight Antonio Carvalho, but on June 26, Roop was forced out of the fight and replaced by Daniel Pineda.
Former Pride and Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira was expected to face Cheick Kongo at the event. However, Nogueira pulled out of the bout, citing that an arm injury sustained in his last bout had not healed enough to resume the proper training and was replaced by Shawn Jordan.
Claude Patrick was expected to face James Head at the event. However, Patrick was forced out of the bout with an injury and was replaced by Brian Ebersole.
Bonus awards
Fighters were awarded $65,000 bonuses.