The Ultimate Fighting Championship was live from Las Vegas, NV this past Saturday night with UFC 216: Ferguson vs. Lee. It was a very entertaining night of scraps that five six out of 11 of them end inside the distance. When the action concluded, the promotion handed out four $50,000 checks to four fights for ‘Performance of the Night’ and ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. The betting lines to wager on such props were made available at Several Bookmakerss. UFC 216’s Bonuses went to…
John Moraga earns Performance of the Night (formerly, Knockout of the Night)
Moraga scored a very impressive first round knockout of Magomed Bibulatov to make it two straight wins for himself inside the Octagon. It was the biggest upset of the night and just about everybody, myself included, had him counted out of this battle against the undefeated Chechnyan. He caught Bibulatov and he caught him early; the stoppage may have been a bit early, as we have seen fighters come back from much worse, but nonetheless, Moraga looked great and seems to have found a second wind in his career, so to speak. He was coming off three straight losses and now enjoys a two-fight winning streak inside the Octagon, including Saturday night’s highlight-reel finish of Bibulatov.
Other noteworthy knockout(s):
– None.
Demetrious Johnson earns Performance of the Night honors (formerly, Submission of the Night)
“Mighty” submitted Ray Borg via fifth round armbar to successfully defend his UFC flyweight title for a record setting 11 times. It was an incredible transition to an armbar mid-back-suplex which was reposted across social media everywhere, hopefully increasing Johnson’s starpower.
Other noteworthy submission(s):
– Tony Ferguson taps out Kevin Lee with a third round triangle choke to win the interim UFC lightweight title.
– Fabricio Werdum made very short work of Walt Harris, taking him down off an early leg kick and quickly capitalizing on an armbar to earn the tap.
– Mara Romero Borella defeated fellow promotional newcomer Kalndra Faria via rear naked choke submission inside of the first round of action.
Lando Vannata and Bobby Green earn Fight of the Night honors for their three round battle on the FOX Sports 1 preliminary card for UFC 216. Vannata had Green hurt, on the ropes and nearly out in the opening stanza, but he made a mistake by getting too excited and throwing an illegal knee that forced the referee to pause the action, get a doctor to check on Green and deduct a point from Vannata. It was back and forth action the rest of the way, with Vannata getting the better of most of the exchanges and managing to hurt Green on a number of occasions. The third and final round was a close one that the judges could have given to Vannata if not for a late flurry by Green to close out the round that seemed to stun Vannata for a second.
Other noteworthy fights:
– Tony Ferguson defeated Kevin Lee via third round triangle choke submission after a highly thrilling back-and-+forth affair which I personally thought would end up taking home the evening’s honors. It was a very incredible showing by both 155-pounders, with Ferguson becoming the new interim-champion and Lee seeing his stock greatly rise despite the defeat. – Evan Dunham and Beneil Dariush fought to a Majority Draw in a very entertaining, back and forth matchup that saw both fighters have their moments. It was Dariush who badly hurt Dunham in the first round and nearly had him out of there, which made judges at Octagon-side give Dariush a 10-8 round. Dunham went on to edge out the second and third rounds, ultimately making the fight a draw. – Cody Stamman defeated Tom Duquesnoy via split decision following three rounds of action that saw him get hurt in the first round and come back to win the second and third. Aside from getting hurt early in the first frame, it was a close round, but he clearly won the second and third, so the split call made little sense.
