Things didn’t pan out for Ramsey Nijem in his UFC 177 main card fight with Diego Ferreira in the end, but his aggression in the fight helped pad his wallet.
Nijem and Ferreira each took home $50,000 for Fight of the Night honors after having an action-packed battle in Sacramento. Nijem was the aggressor through the first round, and the Brazilian Ferreira punished that aggression time and again. He wobbled Nijem in the first round with a solid punch, and put him away with a big shot midway through the second.
The end came at 1:53 of the second round.
Meanwhile, the makeshift main event yielded a bonus winner, as well. Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, who was supposed to fight Renan Barao in a rematch of UFC 173, turned in a deft performance against his stand-in Joe Soto and took home a Performance of the Night bonus. Dillashaw put on a high-volume striking clinic with Soto, landing 151 total significant strikes (which is good for second best in UFC history, behind Johny Hendricks‘ 158).
Like he did with Barao in May, Dillashaw finished Soto in the fifth round with a headkick to retain his title.
The other fighter on Saturday’s card who took home $50,000 for POTN was Yancy Medeiros, who choked out Damon Jackson with a reverse bulldog choke.
FON Nijem-Ferreira, Performance Dillashaw, Medeiros