Following last night’s UFC 219 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the main event title clash between Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and Holly Holm, which resulted in the champion retaining her title by unanimous decision.
Both fighters showed excellent conditioning as they battled on the feet for the full five rounds, with Cyborg having a distinct power advantage and doing well at countering off Holm’s in-and-out flurries, though the challenger did have her moments, bloodying the champion’s nose and proving to be strong in the clinch.
Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov picked up a well earned ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus for a remarkably dominant performance against Edson Barboza.
Barboza did his best to threaten with his striking early in the fight, but Nurmagomedov simply walked him down, got into the clinch and brought him to the mat, where a destructive display of ground and pound striking took much of the fight out of the Brazilian.
To his credit Barboza hung in there for the remainder of the fight, but it was one-way traffic and after the sustained beating he’d endured it was a relief to hear the final bell to put him out of his misery, with ‘The Eagle’ earning a landslide decision victory (30-25 x2, 30-24).
Kicking off the evening’s entertainment, Tim Elliott also claimed a performance bonus as he took out promotional newcomer Mark Delarosa with an anaconda choke in the second round.
