Following last night’s UFC 303 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was a preliminary card battle between Andre Fili and Cub Swanson that went all three rounds with enough back-and-forth action that there was little too choose between them by the end, though it was Fili who would ultimately emerge with a split-decision victory (29-28 x2, 28-29).
Four performance bonuses were also dished out, and of course main event winner Alex Pereira was one of them after he continued to add to his resume of highlight-reel finishes by demolishing Jiri Prochazka in their rematch.
Pereira almost finished Prochazka in the final second of the first round when he floored him with a trademark flush left hook. If there had been more time left in the round the fight could well have been over, but instead Prochazka got a minute to recover on the stool, only for Pereira to then drop him again with his first strike of the 2nd round, a clean head kick, with a few follow-up strikes on the mat sealing a stunning TKO win.
Macy Chiasson also earned a performance bonus after she gave Mayra Bueno Silva one of the nastiest cuts you’ll see with a ground-and-pound elbow in the 2nd round that opened up a huge gash above her right eyebrow. Despite quickly becoming blood-soaked Silva wanted to continue, but it wasn’t long before the doctor was called in and the ref decided to wave the fight off, handing Chiasson the TKO victory.
Meanwhile, in the prelims Payton Talbott continued to assert himself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming talents in the UFC ranks by taking just 19 seconds to KO Yanis Ghemmouri after dropping him with a big right hand.
Joe Pyfer also got a bonus after he started strongly against Marc-Andre Barriault, hurting him with an overhand right, then continuing on the attack until a big uppercut sent his opponent crashing face-first onto the canvas for a KO victory.
