Following last night’s UFC 244 event the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was an enjoyable striking battle between Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque.
Luque had some success with leg kicks and pressure-based striking in the opening round, but Thompson didn’t fight cautiously despite coming off a KO loss and instead became more offensive as the fight went on and began putting on a striking masterclass in which he appeared to hurt his opponent multiple times with kicks and punches.
Utlimately though, Luque showed a tremendous chin to keep fighting through the adversity, and while it wouldn’t earn him a win, he would get the bonus money for his troubles.
Meanwhile, Kevin Lee definitely earned his ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus after he secured a stunning first round head kick knockout victory over Gregor Gillespie, ending his opponent’s 13-fight undefeated record.
Also scoring a performance bonus was Corey Anderson, who shocked Johnny Walker in the opening round of their fight by sending him falling backwards with a big right hand and then a clipping left, before following up with ground and pound.
Walker got back to his feet, but on wobbled legs he was met with more heavy artillery and a flush right hand again buckled him, leading to the TKO stoppage.
