Following last night’s UFC 248 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
No prizes for guessing who got the ‘Fight Of The Night’ as the epic five round war between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk is already guaranteed to go into the UFC’s Hall Of Fame at some stage as not only the best WMMA fight of all-time, but also one of the best MMA fights ever too.
At times it was exceptionally difficult to establish who was winning because both ladies were landing punch-for-punch, kick-for-kick at a high pace, and it left both wearing the damage on their faces, with Jedrzejczyk in particular having an enormous haematoma covering most of her forehead, while Weili was also swollen around the eyes and bloodied.
Weili appeared to have the greater power, but Jedrzejczyk was landing clean strikes and kept her intensity high during the later rounds at times when her opponent appeared to be slowing down a touch.
That led to a nailbiting judges ruling and in the end it went to split decision with Weili getting her hand raised to retain the title (48-47 x2, 47-48).
Meanwhile, Beneil Dariush earned a ‘Performance Of The Night’ award after a sensational comeback after appearing to be rocked by Drakkar Klose in the second round.
when the chips were done Dariush decided to go out swinging and staggered Klose with a strike, then pressed forward and landed a thunderous left hand that knocked him out.
Sean O’Malley also deservedly won a performance bonus after he returned after a long layoff and made short work of Jose Quinonez, catching him with a hook then a head kick, before a flurry of punches secured the TKO stoppage barely two minutes into the fight.
