UFC officials announced the recipients of the $50,000 performance-based bonuses stemming from Saturday’s UFC 270 pay-per-view fight card.
Fight of the Night: Brandon Moreno vs Deiveson Figueiredo 3
Before the fight had even reached the final round, the growing chorus both inside the Honda Center and on social media was near unanimous: give us a fourth fight. And when an emotional Deiveson Figueiredo got his hand raised at the end, it’s what he wanted too. He even offered for the fight to be in Mexico.
Over the course of 25 full minutes it was a veritable game of inches, with the momentum seesawing between both men in the same manner that made their first meeting an instant classic. If the fight had lasted thirty seconds longer, who knows? But when the final horn sounded, it was the Brazilian who had done just enough extra work to reclaim his flyweight belt.
“Thank you so much, Brandon Moreno,” Figueiredo said as he cradled his championship hardware, adding “Today is my day.”
Performance of the Night: Said Nurmagomedov
There’s an old saying in combat sports that you don’t get paid for overtime and Said Nurmagomedov seems to understand that as well as anyone. Before it seemed his opponent Cody Stamann even knew what was happening, the Russian locked in the choke and then rolled to get the submission. At 47 seconds, it was the third-fastest submission in the history of the 135-lb ranks. In the densely talent-packed bantamweight division, Nurmagomedov made many sit up and take notice with his fourth win in five UFC fights.
“Wow,” said TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter on Twitter following the win. “Said Nurmagomedov just ran through Cody Stamann, which is incredibly difficult to do.”
Jon Jones reacts to Francis Ngannou’s UFC 270 win: ‘Got some more records to break’
Performance of the Night: Vanessa Demopoulos
After surviving a right hand that would have sent most folks into the shadow realm, Vanessa Demopoulos, in her own words “woke up” on the mat in the early prelims and had the calm presence of mind to work Silvana Gomez Juarez into a beautifully executed arm bar.
So happy was Demopoulos to get her first UFC victory that she did some impressive splits and jumped into the arms of Joe Rogan as he interviewed the jubilant strawweight.
“I don’t have enough fingers and toes to tell you how awesome it feels,” she would say backstage. “These are the things that I’ve dreamed of. These are the things that I spoke into existence.”
UFC 270 Bonuses: Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno earn Fight of the Night
