Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 252 event in Seattle the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was a light-heavyweight battle between Alonzo Menifield and the debuting Julius Walker, which went the distance in the opening bout of the main card.
It was clear from early on that Menifield had the power advantage here and he troubled Walker on several occasions during the fight. Walker was willing to trade at tiimes, but his main focus was on frequent clinch-work, from where he’d repeatedly go for knee strikes to wear down his opponent over time. This was a hastily arranged fight and it showed as both fighters looked very tired long before the final bell, but they kept battling regardless, with Menifield in particular landing some hard punches in the dying stages of the final round to help him on his way to a split-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 28-29).
Jean Silva earned one of two ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonuses after he demolished Melsik Baghdasaryan with a left hook followed by a powerful right hand in the first round to earn a TKO finish.
Also earning a performance bonus was Ricky Simon who knocked out Javid Basharat with a two-punch combo approaching the four minute mark of the first round in their preliminary card scrap.
