Though it was another fast-twitch, shudder-speed technical performance by the UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in his UFC 174 main event victory against Ali Bagautinov, it wasn’t good enough to pry away an end of the night bonus.
South Korea’s Tae Hyun Bang stole the show by taking home $100,000 in total bonus money — $50,000 for Performance of the Night, and $50,000 for Fight of the Night. His prelim battle with Kajan Johnson, in which Bang finished midway through the third with a knockout, was a back-and-forth affair that stood out in Vancouver. Johnson, who fights out of Burns Lake, British Columbia, also took home $50,000.
The other performance of the night went to Japan’s Kiichi Kunimoto who scored the biggest upset of the night in his handling of Brazilian fighter Daniel Sarafian. Kunimoto won via a very business-like first round submission victory (rear naked choke) over Sarafian, in which he snatched the TUF Brazil contestants back in a scramble and made him tap within moments.
With the victory, the 33-year old Kunimoto improves to 17-5, and he’s now 2-0 in the Octagon.