Matt Mitrione’s three-punch knockout of Christian Morecraft looked like a sure-fire bonus winner. But Cheick Kongo had a little something to say about that.
Kongo’s amazing comeback win over Pat Barry in the main event of UFC on Versus 4 on Sunday night earned him Knockout of the Night honors. Joining him with $50,000 bonus checks were Joe Lauzon, Charles Oliveira and Nik Lentz.
UFC president Dana White announced the bonus winners via Twitter following the promotion’s Pittsburgh debut, which took place at the Consol Energy Center.
Kongo’s knockout is already being talked about as perhaps the biggest comeback in UFC history. Barry rocked Kongo, knocking him down and pouncing to land several more shots. Referee Dan Miragliotta jumped in and nearly waved the fight off, but pulled back when he saw Kongo was attempting to stand up. Moments later, Kongo hit Barry with a pair of rights, the second of which put Barry’s lights out.
Lauzon made quick work of Curt Warburton on the preliminary card with a first-round kimura submission, just 1:58 into the frame. The Submission of the Night bonus is Lauzon’s fifth straight post-fight bonus award and sixth in seven fights.
And in another prelim fight, Oliveira submitted Lentz with a second-round rear-naked choke. But it was a back-and-forth first round that likely earned it Fight of the Night honors. Lentz fended off multiple submission attempts from Oliveira in the first round, and the two traded kicks and knees on the feet. Lentz nearly went out from an Oliveira guillotine, but survived and landed a guillotine of his own, though he couldn’t finish it.
That fight, though, was controversial thanks to an illegal knee to a downed Lentz that was missed by the referee. With Lentz’s right knee down, Oliveira, who had been throwing knees in the second round and landing with regularity, threw one that connected to Lentz’s head – and likely did enough damage to help lead to Oliveira’s fight-ending choke. Though the fight is a submission win for Oliveira on the books now, Joe Rogan announced in the cage following the bout that the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission will review the fight, specifically the knee incident, and could overturn Oliveira’s victory to a no contest.