At UFC Fight Night 37, Alexander Gustafsson left no doubt that he’s still the top contender in the light heavyweight division with a knockout win over Jimi Manuwa.
Gustafsson took the Englishman down in the first round and looked to set up submissions before rocking his opponent with a knee in the second stanza. Unable to recover, Manuwa was stopped in front of his home crowd at the O2 Arena in London, England.
In finishing Manuwa on Saturday, Gustafsson likely earned a shot at the winner of an upcoming title fight between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira. That could mean a rematch of the 2013 Fight of the Year between Jones and Gustafsson.
As an extra reward for his efforts at UFC Fight Night 37, Gustafsson earned some bonus money from the promotion. Here is the full list of bonus winners from the weekend’s UFC event in England.
Fight of the Night
Winner: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa
Even after Gustafsson and Manuwa met inside the Octagon on Saturday, Brad Pickett and Neil Seery seemed to be locks for the Fight of the Night bonus.
However, UFC officials decided to award the bonus to the main event competitors.
Although Gustafsson essentially dominated Manuwa from start to finish, the Swede and his adversary received the $50,000 Fight of the Night checks.
The UFC usually dispenses the money to the fighters who take part in the most entertaining and competitive bout. At UFC Fight Night 37, that bout featured Pickett and Seery, but they were snubbed and missed out on extra earnings.
Performances of the Night
Winners: Alexander Gustafsson and Gunnar Nelson
During the preliminary card, Ilir Latifi, Luke Barnatt and Louis Gaudinot made early claims for Performance of the Night honors.
Latifi sent Cyrille Diabate into retirement with a nasty guillotine choke in the first round. Likewise, Gaudinot returned to the win column with a guillotine choke of his own in the opening frame of a bout against Phil Harris. Barnatt, meanwhile, stopped Mats Nilsson with strikes.
When all was said and done, those three fighters fell short of bonus money, though.
For his drubbing of Manuwa, Gustafsson took home another $50,000 for turning in one of the most impressive performances of the evening. He deserved this bonus much more than the Fight of the Night distinction he also won.
In the opening fight of the UFC Fight Night 37 main card, Nelson earned the second Performance of the Night award.
The 25-year-old Iceland native rocked Omari Akhmedov and maintained full mount against the Russian for most of the first round before securing a guillotine-choke submission. While Latifi and Gaudinot defeated more proven opponents, Nelson’s Performance of the Night award was not unwarranted.
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