Following UFC On ESPN 62 the recipients of the evening’s $50,000 bonus awards were announced.
‘Fight Of The Night’ honors went to the main event middleweight clash between Caio Borralho and Jared Cannonier, which proved to be an entertaining striking war waged over five rounds.
Despite being known for his strong ground game, Borralho impressed with his ability to get the better of the stand-up action, and in the early stages also upstaging Cannonier’s kicking game as he knocked him off-balance twice with heavy calf kicks. Cannonier kept things competitive, but Borralho’s speed, accuracy and good distance management ensured he was giving more than he was getting for the most part. And then in the 5th round Borralho left the result in little doubt after he floored his opponent with a punch and came close to finishing him with ground-and-pound, though ultimately he had to settle for a unanimous decision victory (49-45 x2, 48-46).
Gerald Meerschaert earned one of two ‘Performance Of The Night’ awards after he survived a beatdown in the second round of his fight with Edmen Shahbazyan in which he came close being stopped by relentless ground-and-pound after being hurt on the feet, only to turn the tables on his now exhausted opponent later in the round as he got on top and found a finish via rear-naked choke.
Also earning a bonus was Michael Morales, who made short work of Neil Magny as he landed a big spinning elbow coming out of the clinch to sent him to the mat late in the opening round, before sealing the deal with ground-and-pound for a TKO finish.
