The Ultimate Fighter 18 came to a close on Saturday, and the UFC crowned two more winners in the reality show series.
Chris Holdsworth won the men’s bantamweight competition with a second-round submission victory over David Grant. A 26-year-old member of Team Alpha Male, Holdsworth will be a promising addition to the 135-pound division.
Also, Julianna Pena made history by stopping Jessica Rakoczy with ground-and-pound in the first round. The first-ever female winner of TUF, 24-year-old Pena has a chance to go down as a pioneer in women’s MMA history.
While the event focused on the TUF finalists, Saturday’s UFC fight card produced memorable moments outside of the reality show competition. Here are the performance bonuses for the TUF 18 finale, which was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Fight of the Night
There weren’t many prolonged barnburners on Saturday.
Raquel Pennington vs. Roxanne Modafferi and Tom Niinimaki vs. Rani Yahya were somewhat competitive fights that went to the scorecards, but the evening’s Fight of the Night bonus went to the fight card’s opening bout between flyweights Josh Sampo and Ryan Benoit.
After Sampo missed weight on Friday, Benoit was the recipient of both sides of the bonus money, netting $100,000 in extra income despite being submitted.
Knockout of the Night
Heading into the main event, newly crowned TUF winner Julianna Pena was the only fighter to score a knockout win on Saturday.
Since Pena’s knockout resulted more from Jessica Rakoczy being unable to escape full mount than damage from strikes, Knockout of the Night honors were up for grabs in a bout between Gray Maynard and Nate Diaz.
Diaz took advantage, clipping Maynard on the chin in the first round and staying on the former title challenger until referee Yves Lavigne was forced to step in.
Submission of the Night
Saturday’s fight card featured two submissions, and both came via rear-naked chokes.
Sampo’s submission of Benoit stood as the only submission of the evening until Chris Holdsworth tapped David Grant in the men’s bantamweight finals of the TUF 18 competition. With Sampo missing weight and Holdsworth’s bout earning him the TUF win, it was an easy call for the UFC brass to award the latter $50,000 in bonus cash.
In addition to his Submission of the Night honors, Holdsworth earned a six-figure UFC contract and a Harley Davidson motorcycle with his win.
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