Photo via UFC.com
Last nights Ultimate Fighting Championship event saw “Fight Night” bonuses of $75,000 handed out to Nick Diaz, BJ Penn, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, and Bart Palaszewski. UFC President Dana White made the announcement at the post fight press conference for UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz.
UFC 137 took place on October 29th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event drew a reported 10,313 fans into the arena for a live gate of $3.9 million.
“Fight of the Night” went to Diaz and Penn for their three round main event bout. The first round went to Penn, with Diaz picking up the second and third rounds of the fight. Diaz would pick up the split decision, while a battered Penn would ponder retirement.
Palaszewski earned the “Knockout of the Night” for his first round knockout of former lightweight Tyson Griffin. Their match took place on Spike TV as part of the “UFC Prelims” one-hour special. Palaszewski would back Griffin into the cage and unload with several fists, ending the fight at 2:45.
The other Spike TV prelim bout, saw ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone earn a quick submission victory over German Dennis Siver in their bout, to earn the former WEC fighter the “Submission of the Night” bonus. Cerrone would have Siver in trouble early by wobbling his opponent with a kick. Siver would recover from that attack, but moments later would get caught again and stumble to the mat. Cerrone was quick to follow, taking Siver’s back and sinking in a rear-naked choke submission.