A planned lightweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter 8 winner Efrain Escudero and Nik Lentz has been scrapped from UFC Fight Night 20, with Escudero now likely to fight Evan Dunham while Lentz is expected to meet Jeremy Stephens on the January 20 card in Fairfax, Virginia.

Nate Quarry’s $60,000 payday for his main card win over Tim Credeur at UFC Fight Night 19 on Wednesday in Oklahoma City topped the event’s $476,000 payroll, according to official fighter salary figures released on Monday by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission.

Nate Diaz and Carlos Condit were also among the card’s top earners, pocketing $48,000 apiece for their main card victories.

The UFC on Wednesday awarded $30,000 “fight night” bonuses to Nate Diaz, Jeremy Stephens, Nate Quarry, and Tim Credeur for their performances at UFC Fight Night 19.

Diaz took home “Submission of the Night” for his main event guillotine of Guillard, Stephens received “Knockout of the Night” for his stoppage of Justin Buchholz due to cuts on the preliminary card, while Quarry and Credeur earned “Fight of the Night” for their three-round war the kicked off the event’s Spike TV-broadcast.

Following an early knockdown at the hands of Melvin Guillard in the UFC Fight Night 19 headliner, Nate Diaz took advantage of his first opportunity on the ground, forcing Guillard to tap to a guillotine choke in the second-round of the main event.

The finish capped off the Spike TV-televised card, which took place at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Tomorrow night Oklahoma City is UFC Ultimate Fight Night 19, headlined by Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard. There are certainly some interesting match ups, and a few that on paper seem a bit one sided. I decided I would go on the record with my official predictions for the event, and so have some of the other staff here at MMAFrenzy.

Despite a hard weight cut, UFC Fight Night 19 headliner Nate Diaz successfully made weight at Tuesday’s official weigh-ins for the event, weighing in exactly at the 156-pound non-title lightweight limit, while his main event opponent, Melvin Guillard, tipped the scale one pound lighter at 155. The rest of the 11-bout card also successfully made weight on their first attempt.

Justin Buchholz will be stepping in to replace the injured Ronnys Torres at UFC Fight Night 19 on September 16. His opponent will be fellow young gun, and UFC Fight Night staple, Jeremy Stephens. This marks the second time that Torres has been forced to withdraw from his anticipated UFC debut due to injury.

A lightweight bout between Jeremy Stephens and newcomer Ronnys Torres has been booked for UFC Fight Night 19, according to MMAjunkie, and is expected to be finalized soon.

Stephens (16-5) faces a must-win matchup after suffering back-to-back losses to Joe Lauzon and Gleison Tibau in his most recent bouts, while Torres (14-1) has won 8-straight fights coming into his UFC debut.

Former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit was defeated in his anticipated UFC debut, dropping a split decision to Martin Kampmann in the UFN 18 main event.

Twenty-two of the twenty-four fighters scheduled to be in action at UFC Fight Night 18 successfully weighed in for their bouts on Tuesday at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lightweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ Efrain Escudero recently announced via Myspace Bulletin that he has been forced out of his scheduled bout on April 1. He was scheduled to take part in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 18 on the evening, against fellow rising star Jeremy Stephens.
According to MMAJunkie [...]

After a close first-round, lightweight Joe Lauzon forced late-replacement Jeremy Stephens to submit to an armbar late in the second-round of their headlining matchup, which capped off UFC Fight Night 17 on Saturday at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.
Heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez, veteran Josh Neer, and knockout artist Anthony Johnson also picked up [...]

Jeremy Stephens will replace Hermes Franca and take on Joe Lauzon in the main event of UFC Fight Night 17 on February 7th in Tampa, Florida.
MMAFrenzy.com confirmed the replacement earlier this evening and Spike TV has since publicly announced the lineup change.
Stephens (16-3) has won four of his last five bouts overall and three of [...]

All ten UFC 91 competitors tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for steroids and drugs of abuse have passed their post-fight drug screenings.
The negative results were today confirmed to MMAFrenzy.com by NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer via email.
Tested by the NSAC were Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Kenny Florian, Dustin Hazelett, Gabriel Gonzaga, Demian Maia, [...]

The UFC has awarded Aaron Riley, Jorge Gurgel, Dustin Hazelett, and Jeremy Stephens with $60,000 bonuses for their performances on Saturday at UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar in Las Vegas.
Riley and Gurgel took home “Fight of the Night” honors for their standup brawl that saw Riley unanimously edge Gurgel 29-28 on the judge’s score cards.
Hazelett [...]