The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was back in Sacramento, CA this past Saturday night with UFC on FOX 22: VanZant vs. Waterson. It was an entertaining night of action, despite of the fact that only four of 13 scheduled bouts ended inside the distance. After the event concluded, the UFC awarded $50,000 to two fighters for ‘Performance of the Night’ and two fighters for ‘Fight of the Night’. The lines to wager on these props were available at Several Bookmakers. The post-fight bonus winners were… Leslie Smith and Irene Aldana earn Fight of the Night honors for their three-round war on the preliminary card. Smith surprised many as a big underdog, controlling the fight with her striking from the opening bell, and nearly finishing Aldana. The Mexican promotional newcomer toughed it out and fought back in an entertaining 15 minutes of action. It was a great performance by Smith and a very fun fight; both ladies were certainly happy to collect the $50k for their efforts. Noteworthy fight(s): – Urijah Faber defeated Brad Pickett in his farewell bout, defeating the Brit via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards following three entertaining rounds of action that saw “The California Kid” nearly end the find with strikes in the opening frame. It was a very entertaining bout, and a great send-off for Faber in front of his hometown crowd in Sacramento. – Josh Emmett defeated Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision following three very entertaining back-and-forth rounds of action. Michelle Waterson earns Performance of the Night for her first-round technical rear-naked choke submission of Paige VanZant in what was a very dominant performance. “The Karate Hottie” returned from an extended 15-month injury layoff in impressive fashion to improve to 2-0 inside the Octagon. Paul Craig earns Performance of the Night for his second-round armbar submission of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Luis Henrique da Silva. It was an excellent promotional debut for the Scottish light heavyweight, and fight fans will look forward to his next outing inside the Octagon. Noteworthy Performance(s): – Mickey Gall defeated Sage Northcutt via rear-naked choke submission in the second round of action. – Eddie Wineland defeated Takeya Mizugaki via TKO in the opening stanza of their bantamweight contest.
