Following last night’s UFC On ESPN 31 event the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
With Christmas approaching there was good news post-fight as the UFC opted to add an additional two performance bonuses, making for a total of six bonus in total up-for-grabs instead of the usual four.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the only female bout on the card as Cheyanne Vlismas and Mallory Martin battled it out for three full rounds on the preliminary card.
It was a competitive fight, but Vlismas was the faster and more mobile of the two, operating on the outside and then getting the better of the striking exchanges when they did step into range, which would eventually lead her to a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28 x2).
An entertaining main card seized all the performance awards, including Rafael Fiziev’s stunning TKO victory over Brad Riddell in the co-main event.
This was a competitive fight throughout as the two engaged in a high-level striking battle, but in the final round Fiziev caught Riddell off-guard with a lightning-quick wheel kick that left him out-on-his-feet for a few seconds as he stared off into the distance before the ref rushed in to wave off the action.
Jamahal Hill also earned a performance bonus after his fast stoppage of Jimmy Crute, dropping him with a well-timed right hook in an early exchange and then repeating the feat when the action went back to the feet soon after, which sealed the KO finish just 48 seconds into the fight.
Clay Guida’s bonus was well earned after his excellent comeback following a very rough start against Leonardo Santos that had seen him hurt by an early front kick to the body followed up by a high-octane blitz of punches and knees to the head that left the fight on the verge of being stopped.
The ref give Guida every opportunity to regain his bearings however and that paid off for him as he was able to tough it out and then capitalize on the fact that Santos had appeared to burn himself out going for the finish. From that point on Guida was in control and led to him taking Santos down in the second round and then doing the unthinkable by tapping out the exhausted BJJ ace with a rear-naked choke.
The final bonus of the night went to Chris Curtis who was a sizeable underdog going into his fight with Brendan Allen, but troubled his opponent on the feet and then landed a crisp combination, starting with a right hand upstairs followed by ripping a punch to the body and then a big right hook that left Allen on unsteady legs. He then kept up the offensive pressure up against the cage and finally landed a knee upstairs that sunk his opponent for a big TKO stoppage.
