Following last night’s blockbuster UFC 205 event in New York City the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the co-main event welterweight title fight between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson, which was so closely contested that it actually ended in a majority draw decision on the night.
The first round had been huge for Woodley as he used his wrestling to dominate Thompson, but surprisingly he didn’t seek to pursue that same strategy in the round that’s followed.
Instead, Thompson began to make his impression felt in the striking battle as he commanded the center of the Octagon and put together the more significant offensive output.
It wasn’t until the fourth round that Woodley sparked to life again, dropping his opponent several times with hard punches that left Thompson close to be finished, then the champion latched onto a tight guillotine choke for good measure.
That looked like it was game over for Thompson, but he somehow managed to survive that, and even ended the dramatic round on top blasting away at Woodley, and would go on to win the fifth round too, setting up the majority draw ruling, and likely setting up an immediate rematch.
Meanwhile, earning a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus was a tremendous display of lazer-accurate, powerful counter-strking from the star of the show, Conor McGregor, who was able to drop Eddie Alvarez multiple times in the opening two rounds of the main event, before finally sealing the deal by TKO to become the UFC’s first ever fighter to hold two titles consecutively.
Also getting in on a ‘Performance Of The Night’ award was Yoel Romero, who displayed his freak athleticism as he connected with a flying knee early in the third round against former champion Chris Weidman that would lead to a TKO finish. Afterwards Weidman’s head was left pouring with blood, while ‘The Soldier Of God’ marched around the outside of the Octagon in triumph.
