Following Saturday’s UFC Austin event, UFC officials announced the recipients of the performance-based bonuses. All nine finishers on the fight card received bonus checks and there was also a Fight of the Night.
We are barely halfway through the prelim card in Austin when we knew it was going to be tricky to figure out who was going to get performance bonuses, as fight after fight ended in stellar, show-stopping finishes. Before the night was over, it would tie six other UFC events for the most KO/TKO finishes. So rather than try to pick from such a wealth of prime performances, the UFC brass opted—as they did in Singapore—to give each of the nine finishers a bonus.
Oh, and there was a Fight of the Night.
Performance Of the Night: Adrian Yanez
In what might have drawn the loudest cheers of the night, Texan Adrian Yanez made quick work of Tony Kelley, rocking him with a series of blows that forced the referee to step in.
Performance Of The Night: Ricardo Ramos
Of the five spinning-backfist knockouts in UFC history, Ricardo Ramos can now claim two of them when he needed just over a minute to finish Danny Chavez.
Performance Of The Night: Jeremiah Wells
He’s only been in the UFC for three fights, but Philly’s Jeremiah Wells has made each of them count. His dramatic KO of veteran Court McGee was his third consecutive finish.
Performance Of The Night: Phil Hawes
Welterweight contender Belal Muhammad Tweeted “Hawes got paws” during his KO victory, and it was probably the most succinct way to sum up and absolute punchers clinic over Deron Winn,
Performance Of The Night: Roman Doldize
Roman Doldize opened the show with a bang, ending Kyle Daukaus in just 73 seconds and causing the rest of the middleweights to take notice of his finishing power. Not a bad way to get things started in Austin, and a harbinger of things to come.
Josh Emmett defeats Calvin Kattar by split decision, calls for title shot
Performance Of The Night: Kevin Holland
Kevin Holland got his second straight finish in his second stint at welterweight and he looked brilliant doing it, banging vet Tim Means to the mat and securing a sweet D’arce choke.
Performance Of The Night: Cody Stamman
Stamann looked like the best version of himself fight fans have ever seen as he blitzed Eddie Wineland and ended his evening in just 59 seconds.
Performance Of The Night: Gregory Rodrigues
Rodrigues put the sting of a controversial split decision loss in the rearview mirror with a stellar effort against Julian Marques in a wild one-round battle.
Peformance Of The Night: Joaquin Buckley
Buckley reminded Austin audiences of his why he’s one of the most thrilling prospects in the middleweight division, eventually doing so much visible damage to his opponent Albert Duraev that doctors were forced to end the onslaught.
Fight Of The Night: Kattar vs Emmett
Just like the fights that came before it, the main event with Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett did not disappoint. Punches were thrown in the first round, with both fighters finding their footing. It was a back and forth battle, as the knees, elbows and jabs were starting to bloody up both Kattar and Emmett throughout the fight.The featherweights went to war until the final horn, neither giving up despite the fatigue that could be seen from both sides. In the end, Emmett came out victorious with a split decision.
UFC Austin Bonuses: All nine finishers received checks
