Cung Le weighing in for UFC on FUEL TV 6 – photo via Facebook.com/UFC
With the Ultimate Fighting Championships first event in China now in the books, all that there is left to do is to hand out the “Fight Night” bonuses.
Earning $40,000 each in bonus money was headliner Cung Le, for “Knockout of the Night”, come from behind winner Thiago Silva with “Submission of the Night”, while “Fight of the Night” went to Takanori Gomi and Mac Danzig.
UFC on FUEL TV: Franklin vs. Le went down on Nov. 10 at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel in Macau, China.
UFC president Dana White Tweeted (@danawhite) the winners shortly after the main event.
– FON= Gomi vs Danzig, KO= Cung Le, SUB= Thiago Silva 40k each
Le looked a bit reserved in the opening minutes versus Rich Franklin not exploding with strikes as he’s been known to do versus previous opponents. With both men fighting southpaw, Franklin landed an outside kick to Le’s thigh but failed to cover up as the former Strikeforce champ came over the top with a right hook square on the chin. Franklin would tumble to the mat head first and out cold with the end coming at 2:17 of the first round.
Silva looked to be outgunned versus Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov, eating shots through the first two rounds of the co-main event. In the third, the two would go to the mat and Nedkov would look to finish his Brazilian opponent but would only end up tiring himself out. Silva followed that moment up with his own offense switching the momentum for a takedown, gaining mount and sinking in an arm-triangle choke to end things at 1:45 of the third.
Gomi looked better than he had in previous Octagon appearances which helped him to earn a spit decision over Danzig by scores of 29-28 and 29-28. The two engaged in a back-and-forth battle with ‘The Fireball Kid’ egging his opponent on in the final minute.