The UFC’s maiden voyage into Mexico couldn’t have gone better from a finisher’s standpoint. Nor could it have gone quicker.
All five fights on the main card of the UFC 180 pay-per-view in Mexico City ended in finishes on Saturday night. Four of them ended in the first round.
And the one that didn’t — the main event interim title fight between heavyweights Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum — was the most memorable. The Brazilian Werdum, who was being cheered as an adopted son in Mexico, weathered some early big shots from Hunt, who was filling in for the injured Cain Velasquez on three week’s notice. Werdum very methodically timed out a knee to Hunt’s jaw in the second round, which dropped the 265-pound New Zealander.
Not only was Werdum able to finish the fight moments later via an onslaught of punches and hammerfists to take home the interim title, but he’ll also have some exta spending cash. Werdum was awarded a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus by the UFC.
Werdum is now back in line to face Velasquez sometime in the spring of 2015 to unify the titles.
Also taking home a POTN bonus was the Mexican-American welterweight, Kelvin Gastelum, who made a statement in choking out veteran Jake Ellenberger in the co-main event. Ellenberger scored a takedown against the Yuma, Arizona native Gastelum, which resulted in a beautiful sequence. Gastelum created a scramble and snatched Ellenberger’s neck, sinking a rear naked choke to end the fight just 14 seconds before the first round ended.
He also received $50,000.
The Fight of the Night for UFC 180 occurred in a bantamweight prelim bout between Henry Briones and Guido Cannetti. In the second round of the bout, Briones scored a submission victory (rear naked choke).