Following last night’s UFC 204 event in Manchester, England, the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the main event title fight between Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson, an entertaining battle that lasted the full 25 minutes.
Bisping pushed the pace for the majority of the fight, fighting in a controlled, technical fashion that allowed him to rack up a big advantage in terms of overall strikes landed.
On the other hand, Henderson’s punches were few and far between, but when he did throw he was landing with devastating effect, and that led to Bisping almost being finished in the first round after being dropped hard and swarmed on, and also being floored in the second.
The champion showed great heart and powers of recovery to bounce back on each occasion, and at the earliest opportunity would go back on the offensive himself.
Bisping undoubtedly won the middle rounds, while Henderson tried to push forward more in the final five minutes, making that round extremely close, leaving the judges with a difficult decision on their hands, though in the end, despite having taken more damage, all three unanimously handed ‘The Count’ the victory (48-47 x2, 49-46).
The first ‘Performance Of The Night’ award was dished out to the UK’s own Jimi Manuwa who slayed Ovince St. Preux in the second round of their main event fight, initially staggering him with a big right hook, then moments later knocking him out viciously with a left hook.
The other performance bonus on the night was earned by Iuri Alcantara who grabbed control of his fight with Brad Pickett early in the opening round, rocking him with strikes and then taking him to the mat for a triangle choke submission finish.
