Earlier tonight (Sat. January 23, 2021) UFC 257 took place from a partially filled Etihad arena in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
The arena played host to an integral matchup in the UFC Lightweight division between former interim champion Dustin Poirier and former two-division champion Conor McGregor. After losing a shot at the unified title against Khabib Nurmagomedov Dustin Poirier had a win in his return against Dan Hooker before taking on the rematch to welcome the Notorious Conor McGregor back from his break for most of 2020. In their rematch despite a worrying start, Poirier pushed through and found the finishing sequence in the second round pulling off a shock upset. In the co-main event, Michael Chandler made his highly anticipated debut in the UFC and finished the fight in the first round with a beautiful knockout shot. Outside of those two fights, there were plenty of moments on the card warranting bonuses.
The First Performance of the Night bonus went to Marina Rodriguez for her upset knockout finish of the prospect Amanda Ribas. After having a tough early-round being taken down and dominated on the ground, in round two Rodriguez was able to implement her gameplan and land a huge shot to damage Ribas before closing the show shortly after by TKO.
She thought it was over
#UFC257
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 24, 2021
The second Performance of the Night bonus came in the following fight between Middleweights Andrew Sanchez and Makhmud Muradov. After three rounds of Muradov mostly dominating the standup war, Muradov was able to hurt Sanchez and find the finishing blow in the latter half of the third round.
Had him on skates
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 24, 2021
In the co-main event, another bonus was handed out to Michael Chandler for his knockout victory over Dan Hooker. Heading into his debut there were questions as to how Chandler would perform against a fighter like Hooker, however, shortly into their fight the question was answered as Chandler laded a huge hook that dropped Hooker and allowed him to finish the fight.
The final bonus went to Dustin Poirier for his upset victory in the main event. After using his full skill set in the first round Dustin showed that he was ready to try fighting in all aspects of the game, grappling and striking with McGregor. In the second round McGregor started off strong, however, after a few minutes into the round Poirier landed a series of shots that allowed him to put McGregor away and take the win.