Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 286 event the winners of the evening’s $100,00 bonus awards were announced.
‘Fight Of The Night’ honors went to a main card scrap between Liu Ce and Levi Rodrigues Jr, which packed a lot of action into less than five minutes of fighting.
As a former K-1 kickboxing champion, it was no surprise to see the debuting Liu getting the better of the early striking exchanges, but Rodrigues Jr. was proving to be a game opponent as he repeatedly tried to fire back with power punches when hit. As the round continued in that fashion Liu briefly dropped his rival with a right hand, leaving Rodrigues Jr looking unsteady as he returned to his feet. He tried to fight on regardless, and did land a big punch, but soon after Liu cought him clean with a powerful right hook that sent him spinning face-first onto the canvas for a highlight-reel KO finish at 4.26mins of the opening round.
Main event winner Song Yadong scooped up one of two performance bonuses after securing a major victory by KO’ing Umar Nurmagomedov. The fight was close and competitive up until the mid-way point of the 2nd round when Song threatened with an uppercut and then followed up by a right hand as Nurmagomedov was changing levels, which resulted in the punch landing behind his ear and close to his neck, knocking him out instantly.
Also earning a performance bonus was Contender Series newcomer Bilal Hasan, who lived up to his pre-fight hype with a slick striking display against Nilson Rojas. Rojas put on a spirited performance, but Hasan was just too much for him with his fast, accurate strikes to all levels, culminating in a powerful right hand at the mid-way point of the second round that floored him for a KO victory.
