UFC Fight Night 253 Bonus Awards

Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 253 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.

‘Fight of The Night’ honors were handed to a hard-fought striking battle between Nasrat Haqparast and Esteban Ribovics, which went the full 15 minutes.

This was a highly competitive fight from start to finish, with Haqparast perhaps having the cleaner work of the two and finding good success with his straight left, while Ribovics got better as the fight went on and had his best moments in the final round when he opened up a deep cut to his opponent’s left cheekbone that quickly swelled up, while he also troubled him with a late head kick too. The fight then went to the scorecards, with Haqparast emerging with a split decision win (29-28 x2, 28-29).

One of two ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonuses went to main event winner Manel Kape, whose pressure and sudden, swift offensive bursts proved to be a constant headache for Asu Almabayev, who was unable to get the takedowns he needed to change the complexion of the fight. By the third round Kape was turning up the heat and forcing Almabayev to retreat under fire. Almabayev complained of an eye-poke, but the ref told him to fight on despite a replay showing he had indeed been caught in the eye by an open hand. And that proved to be a pivotal moment as Almabayev never quite recovered as Kape ruthlessly went on the attack to secure a TKO finish.

Also earning a performance bonus on the night was Mario Pinto, who had a tough first round against Austen Lane, but rebounded swiftly in the second round when he went on the offensive and quickly delivered a KO finish via a left hook followed up by an overhand right.