UFC Vegas 89 Bonuses: Prelim bout earns Fight of the Night

Saturday’s UFC Vegas 89 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.  Following the event, the fight promotion announced the fighters that earned a performance-based bonus.  

Four fighters took home an extra $50,000 for their wins on Saturday: Jarno Errens, Steven Nguyen, Payton Talbott, and Fernando Padilla were awarded the bonuses.  

Fight Of The Night: Jarno Errens vs Steven Nguyen

Jarno Errens earned his first UFC victory in his third try, besting debutant Steven Nguyen in a hard-fought, impressive 3-round war.

Errens found his rhythm quickly, splitting Nguyen’s lip and staying ahead of the pace on the feet. The Dutchman found plenty of success getting to Nguyen’s legs, limiting the Fortis MMA product’s movement significantly. In the second round, Errens found a home for a big shot to score a knockdown and stayed on the front foot in the third despite a game effort from Nguyen toward the latter stages of the fight.

Performance Of The Night: Payton Talbott

Reno’s Payton Talbott scored the most impressive win of his career, scoring a 2nd-round knockout win over South African bantamweight prospect Cameron Saaiman.

Talbott beat Saaiman up plenty early, including a big knee in the first round that put him on the front foot. From there, Talbott was in rhythm. He walked forward, picked his shots, varied his targets and moved with little concern for what Saaiman threw back toward him. In the second round, Talbott cracked Saaiman with a clean left hook and pounched on him to complete the finish.

Performance Of The Night: Fernando Padilla

Fernando Padilla walked into the UFC APEX with a point to prove and made it emphatically to the tune of a 1st-round submission win over Luis Pajuelo. Padilla got an early knockdown with a slick left hand, which led to him taking control of his opponent on the ground. As the Peruvian worked back to his feet, Padilla locked in a standing D’arce choke to get the submission win .