Following last night’s TUF 22 Finale in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was a potential Fight Of The Year contender between Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza. This was a tremendously exciting scrap from the start with Ferguson throwing caution to the wind as he continually pressed forward on the attack, with Barboza doing a very good job of returning fire despite being put on the back foot. Ferguson ate some big shots, but showed a great chin and was landing too, before the opportunity to take the fight to the mat in the second round quickly led to him sinking in the fight ending d’arce choke submision.
There was never any doubt that Frankie Edgar was going to be taking home a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus for his first round knockout of Chad Mendes in the main event. This is a fight that everyone had been excited for and had analyzed the different potential outcomes multiple times over, but did anyone for a moment think that Edgar would win by first round KO? Great stuff and that’s the kind of highlight reel finish Edgar needed to secure a title shot.
Also scooping up a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus was the aforementioned Tony Ferguson who thrilled with his all-action, offensively minded approach against a very dangerous opponent. Up until this fight it hadn’t been a particularly memorable night, but he changed all that, helping put on one of the best fights we’ve seen all year.
