UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva retained his belt Saturday at UFC 126 over Vitor Belfort and the finish was named by the UFC as the Knockout of the Night.
The other post-fight awards went to Jon Jones for Submission of the Night and Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly for the Fight of the Night. Each winner will take home a $75,000 bonus.
Silva became only the second man in Belfort’s 14-plus year career to stop Belfort with strikes. In the first round of the UFC 126 main event, Silva clipped Belfort with a front kick to the chin, sinking Belfort to the mat. Silva followed with punches to finalize the win at three minutes and 29 seconds.
Silva said in the post-fight conference that the kick was perfected through the help of Steven Seagal.