Following last night’s UFC 279 event the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced, and on this occasion four Performance Of The Night awards were handed out.
In what appears to be the final fight of his UFC run, at least for the time being, Nate Diaz ended up with a performance bonus for his fourth round finish of Tony Ferguson in the main event.
The battle had been waged on the feet in the prior rounds and was fairly competitive, though the judges scorecards would later reveal that Diaz had been up 30-27 on two cards heading into the fourth round, while the other judge had it 29-28 in Ferguson’s favor.
Nevertheless, Diaz ensured the judges wouldn’t be required in this instance as he immediately seized on a guillotine choke as soon as Ferguson took his corner’s pre-round advice to go for a takedown, forcing him to tap out soon afterwards.
Also earning a performance bonus was Irene Aldana who delivered a unique TKO finish in the third round of her fight with Macy Chiasson, landing a heel kick to the liver while on her back that slumped her opponent to the canvas and left her unable to continue.
Johnny Walker got back in the win column and picked up a bonus too after he was able to seize upon a rear-naked choke submission late in the first round against Ion Cutelaba to force a tap out.
Rounding up the bonus awards was Jailton Almeida, who had come in on short notice for a fight with Anton Turkalj and was able to get him to the mat early and then eventually sink in a rear-naked choke finish.
