Following last night’s UFC On FOX 18 event in New Jersey the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the competitive bantamweight battle between Jimmie Rivera and Iuri Alcantara which went the full three rounds as they traded on the feet and occasionally went to the mat, but overall Rivera edged it by pushing the pace, offering a higher offensive output and landing a couple of key takedowns.
Anthony Johnson showed off his devastating punching power against Ryan Bader in the main event to claim a ‘Performance A Night’ award, taking just 86 seconds to switch off his opponents lights with a barrage of ground and pound strikes after initially stuffing a takedown attempt and then moving to full mount. The win puts ‘Rumble’ in a strong position to get another chance at a 205lb title shot later this year.
‘Big’ Ben Rothwell also earned a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus for his gogo choke finish against Josh Barnett, the same submission he used against Matt Mitrione last time out. Up until that point it’d been a relatively even fight on the feet, but Rothwell capitalized when Barnett swooped in for a takedown and became the first ever fighter to tap out ‘The Warmaster’ due to a submission hold.
