What’s the story?
The first UFC event of 2017 was UFC Fight Night 103, which was held in Phoenix, Arizona. The event was highly enthralling with some nail-biting action. Without any doubt, the most stirring fight of the evening was the battle between Augusto Mendes and Frankie Saenz.
Arguably, the best knockout of the night was Walt Harris’ stunning knee and punches combination finish of Chase Sherman. Also noteworthy was Oleksei Oleinik’s usage of a rare submission called “Ezequiel choke” in his victory over Viktor Pesta.
Another fighter who impressed the fans was Yair Rodriguez who gave the performance of his career against a returning B.J. Penn. He knocked down “The Prodigy” with a front kick to the face and followed it up with punches to finish him early in the second round.
Accordingly, here are the post fight bonusus that the UFC decided upon.
Fight of the Night: Frankie Saenz vs. Augusto Mendes
Performance of the Night: Yair Rodriguez
Performance of the Night: Aleksei Oleinik
In case you didn’t know...
At UFC Fight Night 103, former UFC champion B.J. Penn made his UFC return after two-and-a-half years away from the sport. He faced upcoming featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez in the main event.
Bryan Caraway was expected to fight Jimmie Rivera in this event. However, Caraway got injured a week before the fight. Thus, the fight was scraped by the UFC.
The heart of the matter
UFC bonus awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each event, based on internal decision by UFC management. Fight of the Night bonus is awarded to the fighters in the best scrap of the night.
Whereas, Performance of the Night bonuses are given to fighters who have had exceptional or highly entertaining individual performances or finishes.
What next?
The next UFC event is UFC on FOX: Shevchenko vs. Pena. It will be held on January 28, 2017 at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The event will feature some highly exciting fighters such as Donald Cerrone, Valentina Shevchenko, Andre Arvloski, etc.
Sportskeeda’s take
UFC bonus awards are a great way to reward the fighters for their hard work. It also encourages fighters to put in extra efforts to give the fans some highlight reel moments. That Ezekiel choke was nasty!
