Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 194 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight of The Night’ honors was the main event battle between Marina Rodriguez and Mackenzie Dern, which went the full five rounds.
From early on it was clear that Rodriguez had the advantage in the striking department, showcasing much sharper, cleaner technique than Dern, who was swinging wilder without much end product.
Rodriguez was also doing a good job of keeping away from Dern’s takedown attempts for the most part, but in the second round the BJJ ace did manage to bring her down and was all over her, taking her back and then achieving full mount along the way, but without finding a finish.
Dern did have another shorter spell of success on the mat later in the fight, but beyond that had to settle for coming up second-best in the striking battle, leading Rodriguez to a unanimous decision victory.
After a disappointing loss last time out, Mariya Agapova bounced back in impressive fashion against Sabina Mazo with razor-sharp volume striking from the opening bell, and that domination would eventually lead her to floor her opponent in the third round with a thunderous right hook, before imediately seizing on a rear-naked choke to force a near-instant tap-out and secure her ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus
Also earning a performance bonus was Lupita Godinez, who found success with takedowns in the opening round of her fight with Silvana Gomez Jaurez, before going on to set up an armbar finish.
