Check out which fighters won performance bonuses from UFC 239 video: Jones vs. Santos.
The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV was home to an fantastic night of fights. The card saw four (T)KOs, two submissions and six decisions, including one split-decision.
Performance of the Night: Song Yadong, Jan Blachowicz, Jorge Masvidal, Amanda Nunes
It only took Song Yadong 64 seconds to blitzkrieg Alejandro Perez with a hard shot to the body followed with a right cross that sent him to Sleepytown. A super gnarly knockout like that deserves a performance bonus. Glad to see an undercard fighter get the 50 Gs.
Jan Blachowicz had Luke Rockhold figured out before the first round was over, despite the Californian’s best offensive offerings. Rockhold’s decision to stare danger straight in the face with his hands down ultimately proved to be the demise of his planned comeback. Blachowicz made him pay dearly in the second round when he put Luke down with a massive left that immediately separated him from consciousness. To add insult to injury, he followed Rockhold down and landed a couple more big ones to seal the deal thanks to Herb Dean’s slow response time.
Jorge Masvidal needed just FIVE history-making seconds to take out “Funky” Ben Askren. As soon as the ref motioned the fight clock was on, “Gamebred” launched himself across the cage with a flying knee that looked like it came straight from a Kung Fu movie. The landing was perfect as Askren had dropped down in anticipation of landing a takedown and was thusly clobbered by the skull jangler. Askren immediately flattened and was met with two more huge bombs from Masvidal, who then transformed himself into a pro-wrestling referee, tapping him out with a three-count. It. Was. Amazing.
Amanda Nunes quickly dispatched former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm to the Land of the Lost with a huge right head kick that floored Holm, then followed her down to the canvas to finish the job. The two traded kicks, with Holm using the oblique a few times and Nunes landing head kicks, body kicks, knees and hooks. It was clear where this fight was headed and Amanda did not disappoint. The Lioness roared and everyone heard.
Fight of the Night: None