UFC on FOX 7 – Matt Brown finishes Jordan Mein via second round TKO – Photo via Facebook.com/UFC
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White handed out $50,000 ‘Fight Night’ bonuses to fighters Josh Thoomson, Yoel Romero, Matt Brown and Jordan Mein for their work Saturday night as part of the UFC on FOX 7 event.
Thomson and Romero both won for “Knockout of the Night,” while Brown and Mein were given the “Fight of the Night” bonus. With no submissions on the card no “Submission of the Night” bonus was handed out.
UFC on FOX: Henderson vs. Melendez took place on April 20, 2013 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. The event aired in three parts, the main card on FOX, while portions of the prelim card aired on FX and via streaming video on the web.
White announced an attendance of 13,506 for a live gate of $1.333
‘The Punk’ Thomson made a successful return to the Octagon with a second round TKO finish of Nate Diaz, becoming the first fighter to do so. Thomson finished things with a head-kick, after landing two in the previous round, stumbling Diaz and following him to the mat with more punches. Diaz corner threw in the towel but the referee had already jumped in to stop the bout for an official finish at 3:44.
Romero opened the UFC event versus Clifford Starks using a flying knee to end things with a knockout at 92-seconds of the first round. The bout marked his first fight since September 2011 when he lost his Strikeforce debut competing at light heavyweight. The Cuban made his middleweight debut at the FOX event and is a 2000 Olympic Silver medalist for Freestyle Wrestling.
Welterweights Brown and Mein fought in the opening FOX telecast for the main card. The two would battle back and forth in the first round with each man looking as if they could finish the other. Mein landed a tough body shot that had Brown down on the canvas but was unable to capitalize, and then was caught in a tight triangle choke but the Canadian survived that. Into the second and it was Brown who land with a pair of knees to put Mein down on the mat. Brown then followed up with punches to the head and body to finish things by TKO at 1:00 of the second.