Following UFC On ESPN 13 on last night the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was an entertaining main card opener between Mounir Lazzez and Abdul Razak Alhassan.
Alhassan is known as a fearsome finisher and he blasted Lazzez with huge punches in the opening minute of the round, but was somewhat stunned to find that despite repeated clean connections that he couldn’t put him away.
From that point the newcomer Lazzez began to seize control of the fight, demonstrating highly impressive striking technique, including clinical knees to the body, step-in elbow and effortless head kicks.
However, as the fight went on Lazzez also showcased solid ground skills too, and though he didn’t find a finish during the 15-minute encounter he comfortably won by unanimous decision and left many people feeling that the UFC may have uncovered a hidden gem here.
Meanwhile, another newcomer, Khamzat Chimaev earned a ‘Performance Of The Night’ bonus after he dominated John Phillips in the prelims.
Chimaev quickly stamped his authority on the fight by getting the fight to the mat and beating Phillips up with ground and pound in the first round and again early in the second until he switched things up by going for a D’arce choke to force the submission finish.
Also earning a performance bonus was Lerone Murphy, who had to fight out of some potentially threatening positions in the early stages of his fight with Ricardo Ramos, but then made him pay by taking him down and blasting him with big ground and pound to earn a TKO stoppage before the end of the opening round.
