UFC President Dana White announced the “Fight Night” winners via Twitter (@danawhite) on Saturday evening following the main event of UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger.
Earning $55,000 in bonus money were Jake Ellenberger for “Knockout of the Night”, TJ Waldburger for “Submission of the Night”, while Lance Benoist and Matt Riddle earned the “Fight of the Night” bonus.
UFC Fight Night: Shields vs. Ellenberger (aka UFC Fight Night 25 and UFC: Battle on the Bayou) took place on September 17 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. The four bout main card aired live on Spike TV, while the remaining eight prelim fights streamed live on Facebook.
Ellenberger was given “KOTN” for his 54-second TKO win over former No. 1 contender Jake Shields in their main event bout of UFN 25. ‘The Juggernaut’ scored with a knee to the head while in the clinch and followed up with several rights while on the mat to finish the fight for his fifth straight victory.
Waldburger beat out two other submission wins on the night for the “SOTN” bonus. He forced UFC newcomer Mike Stumpf to tap at 3:52 of the first after securing a triangle choke to put him back in the win column after a recent loss.
The “FOTN” went to Riddle and Benoist who fought a spirited three rounds which saw judges score the bout 29-28 across the board for Benoist who wins his UFC debut to stay undefeated at 6-0. The loss is Riddle’s second straight in the Octagon, the other coming last December in a another exciting matchup against Sean Pierson at UFC 124.