MMA Daily Grind: UFC 155 Prelims Draw Big Numbers and More Hot News

The UFC 155 prelims on FX, which featured a bantamweight bout between Eddie Wineland and Brad Pickett, were viewed by 1.4 million people (via MMAFighting.com). That audience was the fourth largest since the organization began airing preliminary cards on FX and the biggest since the UFC 148 prelims in July.

A heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos headlined UFC 155, for which pay-view-buys have not yet been determined. However, with such high ratings for the FX-aired prelims, it appears likely that the main card was also watched by many.

In addition to the release of ratings for the UFC 155 prelims, plenty of other MMA news has broken in the past 24 hours. Let's take a look at what you may have missed.

Biggest Stories

Costa Philippou Wants Brian Stann vs. Wanderlei Silva Winner Next

 Fresh off of the biggest win of his career, a knockout against Tim Boetsch, Costa Philippou is already looking ahead. Now considered a middleweight title contender, Philippou would like to continue his rise against the winner of a March bout between Brian Stann and Wanderlei Silva (via MMAWeekly.com).

Paulo Filho Signs with World Series of Fighting

 Coming off of a win over Murilo Rua, Paulo Filho has become the newest addition to the up-and-coming World Series of Fighting organization (via MMAWeekly.com). The former WEC champion was considered one of the best middleweights in the world before falling off of the map after a loss to Chael Sonnen in November 2008.

Conor McGregor Becomes Two-Division Cage Warriors Champions

 Ireland's Conor McGregor captured the lightweight title under the banner of long-running British promotion Cage Warriors by knocking out Ivan Buchinger (via Cage Warriors TV). McGregor also holds the organization's featherweight championship and owns an eight-fight winning streak.

Fights Booked

Legacy FC 17: Dan Hornbuckle vs. Pete Spratt (via MMAJunkie.com)

Video of the Day

Veteran photographer Esther Lin offers an artistic view of her images from UFC 155 fight week (via MMAFighting.com).

Photo of the Day

Rose Namajunas jokes around with boyfriend Pat Barry in advance of her Invicta FC debut against Emily Kagan on Saturday.

Tweet of the Day

"

Just finished VADA testing, doing my part to clean up the sport. More clean fighters need to sign up to expose the cheaters!

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) January 3, 2013"

Comment of the Day

"I like Junior [dos Santos] and all, but he needs to rack up a win or two before he starts talking rematch. If the fight was close, then that would have been different. But this wasn't the case, as Cain had his way with Dos Santos for 25 minutes."—Tim Manning on How Would a Cain Velasquez-Junior Dos Santos Rubber Match Play Out?