Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 159 event in Mexico City the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
On this occasion the ‘Fight Of The Night’ bonus went to a hard-fought battle between Carla Esparza and Alexa Grasso that ebbed and flowed for the full 15 minutes.
Grasso was clearly the better striking technician in the fight and had her opponent rocked at one point, but Esparza’s wrestling was a key factor in the opening 10 minutes of the fight and she was able to escape some dangerous submission attempts on her way to a very narrow majority decision victory.
Meanwhile, earlier on the main card Steven Peterson delivered one of the most stunning knockouts wins over the year when he fought fire with fire by dodging a spinning backfist from Martin Bravo and then instantly throwing one of his own that connected clean to the jawline and rendered him unconscious.
Earlier, Paul Craig also claimed a ‘Performance Of The Night’ award after his first round submission over Vinicius Moreira in the prelims.