Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 186 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
In a very rare occurrence, UFC Officials reacted to the decision heavy card by opting to exclude one of the usual two ‘Performance Of The Night’ awards.
That meant only prelim fighter Ronnie Lawrence earned a performance bonus with the only fight on the entire card, and a well earned one at that after he ramped up the action in the third round against Vince Cachero with a sequence that saw him throw a spinning back kick to the midsection, following up with a suplex and then delivering ground-and-pound blows to produce a TKO stoppage.
Meanwhile, ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors went to an competitive and entertaining rematch between Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera.
Both fighters started quickly, with Rivera’s hands looking sharp, but it was Munhoz’s calf kicks that quickly became a difference-maker, to the extent that at the end of the first round Rivera admitted to his corner that his calf was badly beaten up and he didn’t know what to do about it.
Nonetheless, Rivera continued to do his best to land big punches and even the occasional calf kick of his own during the two rounds that followed, but Munhoz was able to disrupt his balance regularly when he returned to the low kick and also took advantage of his opponents compromised movement to ensure he would emerge with a unanimous decision victory.
That evens the score between the two and there’s already growing calls for them to now have a trilogy fight.
