UFC officials announced the recipients of the performance-based bonuses stemming from UFC Vegas 51 following Saturdays event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Fight Of The Night: Mayra Bueno Silva vs Wu Yanan
When the scorecards were read in favor of Mayra Bueno Silva at the conclusion of her bout with Wu Yanan, Silva erupted in shrieks of relief and joy. Joy for the win, and relief because despite the unanimous nod, few would have been surprised with any combination of outcomes given how close the contest was throughout. A wild, back-and-forth brawl of competing stylees, Wu’s high-cardio, unorthodox angles were met with Silva’s slick Muay Thai and heavy counter-punching. As the cliché goes, it was the fans who were the real winners after being treated to 15 straight minutes of brilliant, heart-pounding MMA.
Performance Of The Night: Drakkar Klose
With his wife, Cortney Casey, and their young son, Kingston, in attendance, Drakkar Klose put on one of the great performances on the lightweight’s career to date. Absent from the Octagon for nearly two years—partially due to bizarre faceoff injury from Jeremy Stephens last year—Klose didn’t show the slightest ounce of ring rust as he preceded to tee off on Brandon Jenkins, who hung around in the match much longer than any man probably should. Commentator Daniel Cormier watched in awe as Jenkins ate shot after shot and wondered aloud “How is this kid still standing?” Shortly after that comment, he was no longer standing and Klose celebrated the triumph with his family.
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Performance Of The Night: Andre Fialho
After coming out on the wrong side of the scorecards in his UFC debut, Portugal’s Andre Fialho got back to his trademark finishing style with a thrilling TKO victory over Miguel Baeza near the end of the first round. Baeza looked particularly sharp for most of the first frame until Fialho found a home for some mean uppercuts that set the table for a massive left hand that sent “Caramel Thunder” to the mat where he was met with some fierce ground and pound to seal the deal.
UFC Vegas 51 Bonuses: Drakkar Klose banks an extra $50,000 for second-round finish