Following the UFC On ESPN 54 event in Atlantic City the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
On this occasion no main card fighter won a bonus, with ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors going to a preliminary card rematch between Anton Turkalj and Ibo Aslan.
Turkalj finished their first fight by submission in the Brave promotion back in 2020, but this time it felt like it could go either way as both men engaged in a battling brawl up until the third round when Aslan avenged his prior loss with a big right hand flooring his opponent to secure a TKO victory.
Meanwhile, Nate Landwehr earned one of two ‘Performance Of The night’ bonuses after he soaked in a lot of early punishment from Jamall Emmers like a sponge and kept marching forward regardless, which paid off late in the first round when he was able to get into range and land a big uppercut that put Emmers down, with ground-and-pound sealing a KO finish.
The other performance award went to Dennis Buzukja who was getting the better of newcomer Connor Matthews in the striking department for much of the fight and sealed the deal with a third round KO finish courtesy of a big left hook.
