Following last night’s UFC Fight Night 245 event the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
There were just two finishes on the entire 11-fight card last night, which clearly didn’t impress the UFC brass, who opted to only hand out three bonuses afterwards instead of the usual four.
‘Fight of The Night’ honors went to a clash of the veterans between 40-year-old Darren Elkins and 39-year-old Daniel Pineda, who went to war in a hard-fought, bloody battle over three rounds.
Pineda largely got the better of the striking action and also threatened multiple times during the fight with guillotine chokes that might have finished other opponents. Not Elkins though, who not only managed to scramble out of danger each time, but also lived up to his ‘The Damage’ nickname by dishing out serious punishment when his wrestling advantage afforded him opportunities to dish out ground-and-pound. In fact by the end of the first round Pineda already had two cuts to the eyebrows in addition to swelling below his right eye, and he continued to chip away at him over the course of the fight as he used his wrestling to impose his will on the bout, leading to a unanimous decision win (29-28 x3). Pineda then retired after the fight.
The only ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus went to dominant main event winner Anthony Hernandez, who executed his gameplan perfectly against Michel Pereira, giving his opponent no time to settle into his striking game as he constantly put him under pressure, darting forward with strikes to set up takedown opportunities. And Pereira was unable to stop ‘Fluffy’ from bringing him down multiple times, then looking to pass guard and land ground-and-pound. Pereira became increasingly exhausted as the rounds went on before Hernandez opened up a cut with an elbow on the mat in the final round and then followed on with more elbows to deliver the TKO finish.
