UFC 204 post-fight bonuses: Bisping, Hendo and 2 others among $50K recipients

Check out the post-fight bonuses from UFC 204 in Manchester, England, including who won, who didn’t, and why.

Manchester, England was the home of an exciting night of fights, with four (T)KOs, five submissions and just two decisions. It was one of those rare UFC cards with only one poor fight. Despite looking weak on paper, it delivered in spades where it counted.

Performances of the Night: Iuri Alcantara and Jimi Manuwa

With nine finishes on the card it can’t have been easy to choose just two performance of the night winners. We saw Stasiak literally try to tear Davey Grant’s arm from it’s socket and Stefan Struve try to pop Daniel Omielanczuk’s head like a pimple with a rolling D’arce choke, but Iuri Alcantara dropping Brad Pickett with strikes and then chaining several subs together until finally getting the tap with a triangle choke earned the $50,000 bonus

Marc Diakiese showed why he’s one of England’s most exciting young prospects with a blitzkrieg of strikes on Lukasz Sajewski. While the holes in his game were evident, the precision and venom in his strikes impressed, and the knockout capped that off perfectly. Gegard Mousasi’s 84 punch Street Fighter-esque combination on Vitor Belfort would be enough to get performance of the night honors on nine out of ten cards, but Jimi Manuwa hit Ovince St. Preux with a left hand so powerful it made Dan Henderson wince, and Dana White write a $50k check.

Fight of the Night: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson

What. A. Fight. Every couple of years Dan Henderson puts on a “fight of the year” candidate war. This one goes down in the books alongside the Shogun fights. Bisping retained his belt, but Dan Henderson made him work for it, every minute of every round.

The rounds followed a similar pattern. Bisping would come out, peppering Hendo, landing swift jabs and alternating between leg kicks and head kicks. Then Bisping would either throw a lead left hook that Hendo would counter, or Bisping would land a hard right, leave his left hand low while hunting for a follow up, and Hendo would crack him.

In round one, that dance almost finished “The Count.” An absolutely massive H-Bomb dropped Bisping like a rifle shot, and Hendo followed it up with some brutal ground and pound. Bisping, somehow, incredibly, survived a dozen huge blows, but he paid for it with a huge hematoma under his left eye.

Bisping opened round two the same way, landing jabs and throwing hard, telegraphed headkicks. As Iain Kidd pointed out on twitter, this was almost certainly a deliberate tactic. Those kicks take a toll, even when blocked, and Henderson’s forearms bore the brunt of them over and over again. Bisping started to get comfortable and open up more and more as the round went on, at one point landing a glancing groin shot to Hendo, who visibly reacted. Bisping, learning from his bout with Anderson Silva, pressed his advantage, chasing Hendo down.

That just made Hendo angry.

Another H-Bomb was Bisping’s reward for overcommitting on the injured veteran, but those kicks had taken their toll, and the sting wasn’t quite there. This time, Bisping went down and recovered instantly, easily gaining guard and riding out the end of the round.

By the time round three came around, Bisping ate a clean right hand from Hendo and barely wobbled. The power wasn’t gone, but it was definitely diminished. Bisping pushed the pace and started pulling away. Round four went the same way, until an errant Bisping low kick caught Hendo in the groin again, and this time referee Yves Lavigne called it. That break was enough to give Hendo a second wind, and it almost derailed Bisping’s strategy.

Ultimately, not even a few minutes was enough to refresh Hendo fully. By the end of round five, a tired Hendo couldn’t even muster the energy to block a flying knee launched from 10 feet away, and a front-rolling kick onto his back was his last piece of offense before the bell.

Bisping, bruised and bleeding, got some semblance of revenge over Dan Henderson. It might not have been his dream result, but it was enough. Classy in victory, he gave Hendo all the respect in the world. Hendo, beaten, but not broken, announced his retirement to a raucous ovation from a once-hostile crowd. It was a fitting ending to a great fight.

Check out the post-fight bonuses from UFC 204 in Manchester, England, including who won, who didn’t, and why.

Manchester, England was the home of an exciting night of fights, with four (T)KOs, five submissions and just two decisions. It was one of those rare UFC cards with only one poor fight. Despite looking weak on paper, it delivered in spades where it counted.

Performances of the Night: Iuri Alcantara and Jimi Manuwa

With nine finishes on the card it can’t have been easy to choose just two performance of the night winners. We saw Stasiak literally try to tear Davey Grant’s arm from it’s socket and Stefan Struve try to pop Daniel Omielanczuk’s head like a pimple with a rolling D’arce choke, but Iuri Alcantara dropping Brad Pickett with strikes and then chaining several subs together until finally getting the tap with a triangle choke earned the $50,000 bonus

Marc Diakiese showed why he’s one of England’s most exciting young prospects with a blitzkrieg of strikes on Lukasz Sajewski. While the holes in his game were evident, the precision and venom in his strikes impressed, and the knockout capped that off perfectly. Gegard Mousasi’s 84 punch Street Fighter-esque combination on Vitor Belfort would be enough to get performance of the night honors on nine out of ten cards, but Jimi Manuwa hit Ovince St. Preux with a left hand so powerful it made Dan Henderson wince, and Dana White write a $50k check.

Fight of the Night: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson

What. A. Fight. Every couple of years Dan Henderson puts on a “fight of the year” candidate war. This one goes down in the books alongside the Shogun fights. Bisping retained his belt, but Dan Henderson made him work for it, every minute of every round.

The rounds followed a similar pattern. Bisping would come out, peppering Hendo, landing swift jabs and alternating between leg kicks and head kicks. Then Bisping would either throw a lead left hook that Hendo would counter, or Bisping would land a hard right, leave his left hand low while hunting for a follow up, and Hendo would crack him.

In round one, that dance almost finished “The Count.” An absolutely massive H-Bomb dropped Bisping like a rifle shot, and Hendo followed it up with some brutal ground and pound. Bisping, somehow, incredibly, survived a dozen huge blows, but he paid for it with a huge hematoma under his left eye.

Bisping opened round two the same way, landing jabs and throwing hard, telegraphed headkicks. As Iain Kidd pointed out on twitter, this was almost certainly a deliberate tactic. Those kicks take a toll, even when blocked, and Henderson’s forearms bore the brunt of them over and over again. Bisping started to get comfortable and open up more and more as the round went on, at one point landing a glancing groin shot to Hendo, who visibly reacted. Bisping, learning from his bout with Anderson Silva, pressed his advantage, chasing Hendo down.

That just made Hendo angry.

Another H-Bomb was Bisping’s reward for overcommitting on the injured veteran, but those kicks had taken their toll, and the sting wasn’t quite there. This time, Bisping went down and recovered instantly, easily gaining guard and riding out the end of the round.

By the time round three came around, Bisping ate a clean right hand from Hendo and barely wobbled. The power wasn’t gone, but it was definitely diminished. Bisping pushed the pace and started pulling away. Round four went the same way, until an errant Bisping low kick caught Hendo in the groin again, and this time referee Yves Lavigne called it. That break was enough to give Hendo a second wind, and it almost derailed Bisping’s strategy.

Ultimately, not even a few minutes was enough to refresh Hendo fully. By the end of round five, a tired Hendo couldn’t even muster the energy to block a flying knee launched from 10 feet away, and a front-rolling kick onto his back was his last piece of offense before the bell.

Bisping, bruised and bleeding, got some semblance of revenge over Dan Henderson. It might not have been his dream result, but it was enough. Classy in victory, he gave Hendo all the respect in the world. Hendo, beaten, but not broken, announced his retirement to a raucous ovation from a once-hostile crowd. It was a fitting ending to a great fight.