Capping off the final World Extreme Cagefighting event in a big way, fighters Eddie Wineland, Shane Roller, Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson all earned $10,000 “Fight Night” bonuses for their work on Thursday nights WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis event.
WEC General Manager Reed Harris announced the winners at the post-fight press conference.
Eddie Wineland, fighting against Ken Stone on the preliminary card, scored the “Knockout of the Night” after he used a first round body-slam to KO Stone in their fight. Stone was knocked unconscious and had to be taken out on a stretcher. After visiting a hospital, Stone was given the OK and was headed back to the event.
“Submission of the Night” was won by Shane Roller who choked out Jamie Varner with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their preliminary bout. Roller scored a takedown and quickly took Varner’s back to secure the choke, ending the fight at 3:55.
The “Fight of the Night” bonus went to headliners Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis who battled it out for five rounds in the nights main event. Pettis would earn the unanimous decision from the judge and scored a highlight reel kick in the fifth round after running up the cage to land a kick to Henderson’s head, knocking him to the mat. The animated GIF of the kick can be found below.
WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis took place on Thursday, Dec. 16th, at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Be sure to check out UFC.com this weekend as some of the unaired prelim fights will be available to view online.