Following last night’s UFC 212 event in Rio de Janeiro the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the main event featherweight title clash between Max Holloway and Jose Aldo.
For the best part of the opening 10 minutes it was Aldo who got the better of the tense, technical striking exchanges, but as they settled into the fight it was Holloway who started to find his rhythm and grow in confidence.
Then in the third round he floored Aldo with a crisp four-punch combo and then overwhelmed him with strikes on the ground until the referee decided the turtled-up Brazilian star had taken enough punishment, handing ‘Blessed’ both a TKO victory and the title of undisputed featherweight champion.
Co-main event star Claudia Gadelha earned a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus for her first round finish against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, which saw her tie up in the clinch in the early minute of the fight and then quickly take her down, before smoothly transitioning to her back to sink in the rear-naked choke finish.
The second ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus was handed to Brian Kelleher, who made an immediate impact in his UFC debut by submitting Iuri Alcantara with a guillotine choke less than two minutes into their preliminary card fight.
