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If you thought WEC 47’s ratings were disappointing, wait till you see the estimates for UFC 110’s pay-per-view buy rate. From Dave Meltzer via Fight Opinion:

I don’t have a number of buys, but based on trending data which has historically been pretty accurate, it could be in the 215,000 to 240,000 range, basically along the lines of the tape-delayed foreign shows. This was foreign, but wasn’t tape delayed. One cable industry source gave an estimate of 215,000.

Ouch, not a good day at Zuffa headquarters.

I’m actually quite surprised by the low number. It didn’t have any established UFC superstars on the card unless you want to throw Michael Bisping in that category, but it did have Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Cain Velasquez and hardcore fan favorite Wanderlei Silva in the headlining slots. Not a recipe for big numbers, but I figured it would have hit somewhere in the 350,000-400,000 range, not question the floor for a UFC pay-per-view which previously stood somewhere around 300,000 buys. Apparently these guys aren’t as popular as we like to think amongst the casuals, or maybe the fact that UFC 110 took place only two short weeks after UFC 109 dissuaded people from buying it. I don’t know, but the UFC has to be looking forward to their big UFC 111 card with GSP and Frank Mir to help regain some of the momentum they lost over the past few months.

Image via Sherdog

With clear evidence that the cut sustained by Stephan Bonnar in his fight against Krzystztof Soszynski at UFC 110 was caused by an accidental headbutt, it seemed like a no-brainer for the Combat Sports Authority of NSW to overturn the victory the ref awarded to K-Sos. Surprise, surprise, it wasn’t.

The Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, which was tasked with regulating the February event in Sydeny, Australia, ruled this past Tuesday that the official result ruling the fight a TKO win in favor of Soszynski stands.

“A review was held … and the Combat Sports Authority of NSW did not seek to interfere with the referee’s decision,” wrote Craig Waller, Executive Director of the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, in an email sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) late Tuesday night.

It’s baffling how an athletic commission even with smoking gun evidence can refuse to make the right call in such a situation, but unfortunately it’s what we’ve come to expect with these regulatory bodies. It just sucks for Bonnar who now has an official L on his record he doesn’t deserve. He’s disappointed, but believes the UFC will at least give him an immediate rematch.

“It was obviously a battle between me and [the NSW commission], but as far as the fight, Dana White’s a fair guy, and I’m pretty confident we’ll have that rematch soon,” Bonnar told MMAjunkie.com.

Rumor has it the rematch will go down on June 19 at the TUF 11 Finale in Las Vegas. At least they have instant replay there in case lightening somehow strikes twice.

On this week’s edition of ESPN MMA Live, Jon Anik and crew recap UFC 110. Also, Chael Sonnen (!) stops by to share his thoughts on Frank Mir’s controversial comments.

Wanderlei Silva may not go balls out that much in fights anymore, but he damn sure does in training. Who wants to be his sparring partner? Mayhem didn’t look like he was having much fun.

Anthony Perosh wasn’t too crazy at first about stepping in on two days notice to fight Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 110, but apparently the UFC was able to convince him to take it by offering him a four-fight deal in exchange.

It was not all bad news for Perosh though. He took a beating but he accepted the fight on condition that he get a multi-fight contract. He ended up with a four-fight deal, although there is nothing to say he will not be dropped if he loses his next clash.

Perosh took a beating and sustained a huge cut, so he definitely earned it, but if you ask Cro Cop, it could have been worse.

“I admire Perosh for accepting the fight. There were much better fighters there who turned it down but I understand why; they did not have time to prepare. [But] I am very sorry that I had to hurt Perosh. I tried to fight with as much consideration for him as I could. I even avoided the ground because I am 7, 8 kilos heavier than he is.

Filipovic added that UFC president Dana White had questioned why he did not finish Perosh off. “I just couldn’t do that to him when he was so bloody,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cro Cop’s original opponent Ben Rothwell is still in Australia recovering from the traveler’s flu.

“It was a really bad virus,” Roufus said. “He got really sick and lost a lot of weight and hadn’t eaten for 48 hours. He was still pretty crappy when I left.”

Bummer for Rothwell, but the good news is he’ll still get his shot at Cro Cop, possibly at UFC 115 in Vancouver.

Image via Sherdog

UFC 110 took place earlier this evening at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

In the night’s main event, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira took on Cain Velasquez in a heavyweight bout that could determine Brock Lesnar’s next opponent.

In the co-main event, Wanderlei Silva made his middleweight debut against Michael Bisping.

Joe Stevenson and George Sotiropoulos met in a lightweight bout.

Ryan Bader looked to climb the light heavyweight ladder against Keith Jardine.

Anthony Perosh stepped in on short-notice to take on Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

Results, thoughts, bonuses and live gate (when available) after the jump.

Not that this will come as a surprise to anyone, but Kevin Iole is reporting that Mirko Cro Cop is in serious danger of being cut by the UFC if he loses tonight against Anthony Perosh. Not only is the UFC disappointed in his performances in the Octagon, but they’re apparently getting a little tired with his lack of cooperation with the media.

Filipovic fights late replacement Anthony Perosh on Saturday (Sunday in Australia) in the opener of the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 110. “He hasn’t done great,” White said of Filipovic’s UFC bouts. “Like I said, he’s a guy I respect because of his accomplishments. But we have some in-depth conversations, he and I. I’m real interested to see how [his fight] goes.”

“When there’s a press conference, you can’t find him,” White said. “He’s like Batman. He gets lost and you just can’t find the guy. It’s like you have to send out a Bat Signal to find him. I’m in a business where I deal with lots of different personalities, lots of different egos. There’s a lot of crazy [expletive] I deal with, and I try to deal with each guy a different way.

“Brock Lesnar wanted what he got and he had to come in and prove himself. Mirko Cro Cop didn’t. Mirko Cro Cop, everybody knew what this guy accomplished and what he had done. … Mirko has made a lot of money and he lives in Croatia somewhere. He’s a different animal, he really is. He’ll always be a part of the UFC history, but he hasn’t been the guy maybe we thought he might be. It would be good to see him prove what he can do.”

While Cro Cop may be in a must-win situation tonight, chances are he’s going to win rather easily. Even though he hasn’t lived up to his potential in the Octagon, he’s won all his fights against clearly outmatched opponents since he debuted with the organization in 2007. Tonight shouldn’t be any different.

Meanwhile, Dana says that Stephan Bonnar and Wanderlei Silva will be with the promotion for life.

Moving on, Michael Rome of Bloody Elbow reported on a lawsuit between the UFC and Rampage Jackson. Here’s the gist of the dispute:

To boil the dispute down to simpler terms, the issue is Jackson’s current contract and when it ends. Jackson wants his period away from the UFC to count towards his contractual term; the UFC is arguing that since he retired they were able to properly suspend the term for that period.

Iole also reported that Rampage signed his bout agreement to face Rashad Evans at UFC 114 this weekend in Australia. It sounds like the UFC and Rampage are making amends because the lawsuit will likely be dropped now. Plus, Dana White admitted he was impressed with what he’s seen so far with the “A-Team” movie.

Jackson went ahead and did the movie, which White said “is a real movie. Watch the trailer of this thing and you’ll see, that’s a real, big-time movie. Some of these guys come to me and tell me they’re filming a movie and you see the thing and it’s like it was filmed on a little home camcorder. Rampage’s movie is not like that. It’s definitely the real thing.”

Sherdog has a complete list of notes from the UFC 110 Fight Club Q&A session you should check out too. My favorite is Dana proclaiming Herb Dean is the best referee in the history of the sport…

Video via Cagewriter