Following last night’s UFC 299 event in Miami, Florida the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the co-main event lightweight battle between Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint Denis, which went back-and-forth for as long as it lasted.
True to his ‘God Of War’ nickname, Saint Denis took the fight to Poirier in typically aggressive fashion in the opening round, which resulted in ‘The Diamond’ attempting to pull guard with guillotine choke attempts several times. They didn’t pay off however, with BSD escaping each time to end up on top, and he did threaten with an armbar attempt late in the round, which helped him win the round on all three judges scorecards.
Saint Denis continued to press the action in the second round, but there was a sign of things to come when Poirier caught him with an uppercut as he closed the distance. Mid-way through the round Saint Denis constant pressure started to backfire badly as Poirier bit down on his mouthpiece and landed hard punches, putting him down to a knee for a moment. BSD tried to absorb the damage and keep going, only for a precision right hook from Poirier to knock him out at the 2.32min mark.
As far as ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonuses go, despite not finding a finish against Marlon Vera in the main event, Sean O’Malley was still awarded a performance bonus after he put on a striking clinic over five rounds to successfully defend his title for the first time.
O’Malley’s movement and range management frustrated Vera all fight long, enabling him to pick apart his rival with his faster, pin-point accurate technical striking, while only ‘Chito’s’ exceptional durability spared him from being knocked out by a big knee in the second round.
Dana White also announced that all four other fighters (excluding Poirier due to having already won the ‘Fight Of The night’ bonus) who found a finish on the card would be awarded a performance bonus.
That included Jack Della Maddalena for his late third round KO of Gilbert Burns, Curtis Blaydes for his TKO of Jailton Almeida in the featured prelim, Michel Pereira for his 61 second rear-naked choke submission of Michal Oleksiejczuk, and Robelis Despaigne, who managed to KO Josh Parisian in just 18 seconds!
