UFC on Fox 7 went down Saturday night from San Jose, California. In the main event, Benson Henderson defended his lightweight title belt for the third time, taking a close split decision win over Gilbert Melendez.
But if all you saw was the main event—or even the Fox portion of the card—you missed out. The preliminary card, for example, saw six of its eight fights end in a knockout or technical knockout.
All told, eight of the card’s 12 fights ended in KO or TKO. That’s an embarrassment of riches for MMA fans, but a headache for whomever determines the bonus winners for each event.
Perhaps lightening that load a bit is the fact that there were no submissions Saturday night, ergo no Submission of the Night bonus. Would there be multiple Knockout of the Night bonuses to help make up for this and acknowledge all those worthy contenders?
Yes indeed. Josh Thomson and Yoel Romero both took home $50,000 bonuses for Knockout of the Night. Thomson got the check for handing Nate Diaz his first career stoppage loss and doing so in style: he landed a hard leg kick to the side of Diaz‘s head and closed the deal with punches. Romero landed a spectacular flying knee on Clifford Starks in just 92 seconds to earn a TKO victory in the first fight of the evening.
Matt Brown and Jordan Mein took home $50,000 bonus checks for waging the Fight of the Night. It was only Mein‘s second fight in the UFC, and both came in just over a month for the 23-year-old. Still, Mein showed a willingness to brawl with a notorious brawler in Brown, dishing out some of his own punishment before falling under Brown’s brutal knees and ultimately elbows in the second round.
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