Following last night’s UFC On ESPN 36 event in Las Vegas the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
Earning ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors was a spirited scrap between Katyln Chookagian and Amanda Ribas, which went the full three rounds.
Ribas attempted to push the pace from the opening bell on the feet and also secured two head-and-arm throw takedowns in the first and second round, enabling her to enjoy some control time on top. However, Chookagian was successfully able to defend herself on the canvas and on the feet she more than stood her ground, using her long range punches to good effect, landing the cleaner, more damaging punches throughout the fight and ultimately that led to her winning by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29).
One of two ‘Performance Of The Night’ awards was scooped up by newcomer Manuel Torres, who impressed by coming out on top in an early firefight with Frank Camacho. The two looked to trade heavy leather as soon as the bout started and it quickly became apparent that Torres was getting the better of it, landing big hooks and uppercuts that were troubling the veteran, before a big left hook followed by one on the other side landed clean to the jaw and sent him to the canvas for the TKO finish.
Also taking home a performance bonus was Ryan Spann who also had faced a fast-paced start against the all-action Ion Cutelaba, who was able to take him down after some early exchanges, but his opponent would eventually leave his neck exposed after overcommitting to a strike and was caught up in a fight-ending guillotine choke from Spann.
