Following Saturday’s UFC Vegas 44 fight card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, UFC officials announced the recipients of the performance-based bonuses. Six fighters walked away with the $50,000 incentives.
Fight of the Night: Cheyanne Vlismas vs Mallory Martin
Cheyanne Vlismis made it two in a row in her third UFC fight of 2021 with a unanimous victory over Mallory Martin. A high-paced opening round with sharp strikes on the feet set the tone for the remaining 10 minutes, which was controlled mostly by “The Warrior Princess.”
Vlismas was able to shut down a few takedown attempts and clinchwork by Martin, engaging in her signature style of conversing with her opponents between strikes, before ending the three-round fight with a hug and words of appreciation at the bell.
Performance Of The Night: Clay Guida
It’s time to just accept it… Clay Guida isn’t going anywhere any time soon. The lightweight legend showed that he’s as durable and resilient as ever against Leonardo Santos. In the first round Santos was all over Guida, throwing everything in his arsenal with hopes to finish “The Carpenter” but to no avail.
In the second round Guida put his foot on the gas and relied on his wrestling to get Santos to the canvas. From there he maneuvered himself into position and submitted Santos with a rear naked choke. It was an amazing moment, and it just shows how far heart can get you.
Performance Of The Night: Rafael Fiziev
Lightweights Rafael Fiziev and Brad Riddell put their friendship on hold for 15 minutes of high-level striking at UFC Fight Night: Font vs Aldo. The result was a chess match that had fans on the edge of their seat up until Fiziev landed a devastating wheel kick knockout in the third round of their bout.
It was brilliant display of striking technique and showed exactly why Fiziev is one of the must-watch fighters in the lightweight division. It will be very interesting to see who he squares up with next.
Jose Aldo defeats Rob Font in UFC Vegas 44 main event, calls out T.J. Dillashaw
Performance Of The Night: Jamahal Hill
In the lead-up to UFC Fight Night: Font vs Aldo, light heavyweight Jamahal Hill preached that he wanted to assert his dominance against Jimmy Crute. He needed less than a minute to do just that, connecting with devastating strikes that sent Crute crashing to the canvas.
Let it be known, Jamahal Hill is absolute the real deal.
Performance Of The Night: Chris Curtis
The meteoric rise of Chris “Action Man” Curtis continues after the welterweight followed up his incredible knockout of Phil Hawes at UFC 268 in November with a short-notice KO win over surging middleweight Brendan Allen.
Curtis has shown that he’s definitely a player at either weight class and he truly is going to be one of those fighters to live up to his nickname.
UFC Vegas 44 Bonuses: Six fighters bank and extra $50,000