How can you not be in awe of Chris Weidman?
In one fight he’s officially replaced Rory McDonald as the most hyped prospect in MMA, and he may have gotten himself a fight against Anderson Silva in the process.
But while Weidman obviously stole the show at tonight’s UFC on Fuel 4 event, the entire card was stacked with entertaining bouts and although there wasn’t a lot of excitement leading up to the card, it delivered in a big way.
There were several impressive finishes on the card and a few fights that could have earned fight of the night honors, but the post fight awards are tough to come by and the men who won tonight ultimately deserved it.
All fighters earned $40,000 for their post fight bonus awards.
Fight of the Night: James Te-Huna vs Joey Beltran
When Te-Huna and Beltran had full gas tanks, this fight was as entertaining a brawl as we’ve seen this year.
The first round was incredible for both fighters, with Te-Huna getting a chance to show off his always impressive striking and Beltran letting us know that his legendary chin is still up to any task.
The bout slowed down a bit in the latter rounds, but the two fighters never stopped working and they sealed their post fight bonuses by standing toe to toe for the final seconds of the bout to finish their night with a wildly entertaining exchange.
Knockout of the Night: Chris Weidman
With my apologies to Andrew Craig, who scored an amazing come from behind knockout of Rafael Natal earlier in the night, there’s no way you can deny Weidman of his bonus money.
The elbow that Weidman landed on Mark Munoz was a thing of beauty, and “The All American” was quick to follow up with punches once his opponent was dropped.
Not only is the win going to give Weidman a nice $40,000 bonus, but the win over Munoz proved he is a real threat to Anderson Silva and the UFC middleweight championship.
Submission of the Night: Alex Caceres
Since dropping down to bantamweight, Alex Caceres has looked like a completely different fighter than he did on season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter.
“Bruce Leeroy” had a tough test in front of him in WEC and UFC veteran Damacio Page, but Caceres was able to keep his composure when Page took him to the mat and after a few close submissions in the first round he finally finished the fight with a triangle choke in the 2nd.
The win brings Caceres to 2-1 since dropping to 135lbs, and with the lone loss coming off a close decision where Caceres lost two points for an illegal blow, he is quietly making a name for himself in the bantamweight division.
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