Following last night’s UFC 309 event the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
‘Fight Of The Night’ honors went to the co-main event rematch between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler, which went the full five rounds.
Their original fight a few years ago was the very definition of a back-and-forth battle up until Oliveira’s TKO finish, but it played out differently this time as Oliveira did a good job of getting the fight to the floor and controlling the action either on top or on Chandler’s back. So much so that by the final round there was no question that Chandler needed a finish to win, and to his credit he put everything into making that happen, managing to rock Oliveira with a punch and then ended up on top when his opponent shot for a takedown. Chandler rained down strikes on top but couldn’t find a finish, with the former champ eventually managing to get back on top late in the round to ensure his unanimous decision victory (49-46 x2, 49-45).
No one will be surprised to learn that Jon Jones earned one of three ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonuses after he dominated Stipe Miocic to successfully defend his heavyweight title for the first time in the main event.
Jones looked comfortable from the start and very quickly let Miocic know it was going to be a tough night when he landed a slickly executed trip takedown and proceeded to steadily bludgeon him with heavy elbow strikes over the course of that round. Jones didn’t look to replicate that in the rounds that followed though, instead opting to keep the fight standing while he successfully dictated the range with his kicks and straight punches. By the third round Jones was in cruise control, but he then managed to put the icing on the cake by unleashing a hard spinning back kick to the body that folded Miocic, with a few ground-and-pound strikes then sealing the TKO victory.
Ramiz Brahimaj also earned a performance bonus after he made short work of Mickey Gall in the prelims, knocking him out mid-way through the first round with an overhand right and follow-up ground-and-pound strikes.
Oban Elliott also secured a $50,000 bonus after he controlled the action against Bassil Hafez for two rounds and then caught him with a big punch early in the final round and sealed the KO finish with strikes on the canvas.
