It may not have ended in a finish, but it was enough to earn Fight of the Night as top UFC middleweights Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi claimed Fight of the Night bonuses for their main event bout at UFC Fight Night 36 on Saturday night in Jaragua do Sul at Arena Jaragua, Brazil. Both fighters – and all post-fight bonus winners – each earned $50,000 for their efforts.
The awards were announced by UFC President Dana White via Twitter.
Machida was able to defeat Mousasi via unanimous decision, but it was a closely contested affair for all five rounds. Machida was largely able to play his game, namely, striking from the outside until he was ready to blitz and doing damage at both ranges. Mousasi, however, had his moments. He was able to score takedowns and occasional sweeps when he ended up on bottom. He was also able to frequently land the outside leg kick and three or more strike combinations to hurt or at least reset the Brazilian. In the end, however, it was Machida defining when the offense took place and what it would look like. He did by far the most damage with his strikes – including a series of head kicks – and never spent a significant amount of time at a grappling disadvantage.
The Brazilian won the bout via unanimous decision 46-46, 50-45, and 50-45. Machida’s record moves to 21-4 in professional MMA while Mousasi slides to 34-4-2.
Winning the first two Performance of the Night bonuses were Erick Silva and Charles Oliveira.
Silva ended up facing late replacement Takenori Sato and proved the Japanese fighter was not even close to being in his league. Silva cracked Sato with a hard body kick, which forced the King of Pancrase to shoot for a single. Sato’s punishment only continued, however, as Silva landed behind the back kicks and hard hammerfists to quickly force a finish. The end came officially at 52 seconds into the first round, bringing Silva’s record 16-4 with 1 no contest. Sato drops to 17-9-7.
Last, but certainly not least, Charles Oliveira managed to earn one of the other finishes on the card with his third-round submission of Andy Ogle to open the main card. Oliveira was largely able to dominate with his grappling and takedowns, but Ogle could hang on and defend all of the Brazilian’s attacks until the third round when the Brit was pressing the Brazilian into the fence. In a quick set-up as Ogle was leaning forward, Oliveira secured a triangle choke that forced almost an immediate tap from Ogle. The end came officially at 2:40 of the third round. Oliveira climbs to 17-4 with 1 no contest while Ogle drops to 9-4.