Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 120 event in Virginia the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was the bloody main event battle between Dustin Poirier and Anthony Pettis.
Both fighters had their moments in this well-matched encounter, but one of the most significant moments came in the first round when Poirier managed to open a bad cut to the face of his opponent that would leave Pettis soaked in blood for the remainder of the bout.
The striking exchanges were competitive, but Poirier was also landing takedowns with relative ease, while Pettis was constantly threatening with submission attempts, leading to some entertaining scrambles.
In the end Poirier’s pressure started to wear on Pettis in the third round and he finally tapped in the third round just as his opponent moved to full mount, with the suggestion being that he may have suffered a rib injury.
Matt Brown had announced that his fight with Diego Sanchez would be the last of his career and if so he went out in style as he caught hold of a kick in the opening round and then unleashed a crushing elbow strike that sent Sanchez slumping in a heap on the canvas for the KO finish that would earn him a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus.
Also scooping up an extra $50,000 performance award was Raphael Assuncao who destroyed Matthew Lopez’s lead leg with repeated kicks over the course of their fight and then landed a powerful right hand in the third round that knocked him out out cold.
