Jake Ellenberger, Diego Sanchez, Stipe Miocic and Ivan Menjivar each won a $50,000 bonus for their performances at UFC on FUEL Wednesday in Omaha.
The main event between two welterweight contenders lived up to the hype and earned the Fight of the Night award, as announced at the post-fight press conference. Jake Ellenberger rocked and bloodied up Diego Sanchez to win the first two rounds convincingly. Needing a finish for the win, Sanchez took the initiative to push forward in the third and nearly pulled off the upset. Sanchez late in the fight pounded a tired Ellenberger against the fence with punches, but Ellenberger somehow ate the shots and found a way to escape.
In the end, Ellenberger won on all three score cards two rounds to one, perhaps slotting himself in line for a shot at the interim UFC title.
Croatian Stipe Miocic engaged in a brawl with Philip De Fries and came up on top for the 43-second knockout later declared the official Knockout of the Night. Miocic was hit early, but returned fire with right hands that sent De Fries to the canvas. Miocic finishes with punches to record back-to-back UFC wins.
In the evening’s lone submission, Ivan Menjivar won Submission of the Night with an exciting come-from-behind win over John Albert. Menjivar was in serious trouble minutes into the fight and weathered a storm of strikes to scramble to top position. From there, Albert gave up his back and Menjivar capitalized with a rear-naked choke to close the FUEL television opener at three minutes and 45 seconds.