Check out our breakdown of the post-fight bonuses from UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Till from Liverpool, England.
The Echo Arena in Liverpool, England was home to an underwhelming day of fights, with three (T)KOs, three submissions, and five decisions, including two split-decisions.
The big news heading into this event was Darren Till’s failure to make weight, coming it at 174.5 lbs, 3.5 lbs over the allowed limit. Wonderboy’s team set a stipulation that Till had to weigh no more than 188 lbs at 1 PM on fight day. Till made weight in that second weigh-in, and ultimately won a close fight. Wonderboy got 30% of Till’s show money for accepting the fight.
Performances of the Night: Tom Breese, Darren Stewart, Claudio Silva and Arnold Allen
Tom Breese made his UFC return after almost two years out. The Englishman moved up to middleweight, but he’s still large even for the bigger weight class. He took on durable veteran Dan Kelly and took all of 3:33 to cave the side of his face in and pick up the TKO victory, earning himself an extra $50,000 for his efforts.
Darren Stewart followed his compatriot’s example in the very next fight, going out with something to prove against grappler Eric Spicely. Stewart was likely on the chopping block after going 0-3 in his last three fights, and he fought like a cornered man, throwing everything he had at Spicely. The first round saw Stewart swinging and missing as Spicely mixed up takedowns with leg kicks and jabs.
Stewart found his range in the second round and the action was a breath of fresh air from “The Dentist” as he drilled Spicely over and over again, filling every second with polished, biting shots, capped by an incisive series of shots that left the fans salivating for more. Stewart earned $50K for his handiwork.
Cláudio Silva hadn’t competed in MMA since 2014 before tonight, but he didn’t look like he missed a step, picking right back up from where he left off and taking his UFC record to 3-0 with a rear-naked choke/face lock on Nordine Taleb. The choke didn’t seem to be under the chin, but with someone as skilled as Silva is doing the squeezing, the pain of a jaw being slowly, inexorably dislocated can be just as effective as choking someone out. Silva has now won his last 12 fights and walked out 50 Gs richer for his submission win.
Arnold Allen was getting beat the hell up, en route to a comfortable decision loss as he got outworked, outstruck and started to gas, badly. Then he got bored of doing that, snatched up a front choke from out of nowhere and tapped Mads Burnell out before anyone even knew what the hell just happened. As well as snatching victory from the jaws of certain defeat, Allen managed to snatch up an extra 50,000 smackers for his finish.
Fight of the Night: None
Gate: $1,300,000
Attendance: 8,520