The Ultimate Fighting Championship produced back to back events this past weekend, with Australia’s UFC Fight Night 55 on Friday, and Brazil’s UFC Fight Night 56 on Saturday. There were a total of 21 bouts over the weekend, with 15 of them resulting in finishes, and a record breaking 11 of 11 of them coming on Friday night. After the events concluded, the UFC awarded $50,000 to two fighters for ‘Performance of the Night’ and two fighters for ‘Fight of the Night’ on each card. The lines to wager on these props were made available at Several Bookmakerss. Luke Rockhold earned Submission of the Night honors for his second round guillotine choke submission win over Michael Bisping at this past Friday night’s UFC Fight Night 55 in Australia. The beef had long been cooking and the guillotine settled it, putting the former Strikeforce middleweight champion one step closer to UFC gold. Louis Smolka earned Knockout of the Night honors for his third round TKO over native Aussie Richie Vaculik at last Friday night’s UFC Fight Night 55 in Australia. It was an entertaining battle in the UFC’s 125 pound division that saw both flyweights have their moments, but it was the Hawaiian who ultimately put the stamp on it, hurting Vaculik with a head-kick at the start of the third frame, and then following up with punches to get the stoppage. It was a solid outing for Smolka, and a good way for him to bounce back into the win column. Leandro Silva earned Submission of the Night honors for his first round rear naked choke victory over the veteran Charlie Brenneman at this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, likely sending “The Spaniard” into retirement. With an extra $50,000 in his pocket, the Brazilian bounced back into the win column while simultaneously picking up his first UFC win. I expect we will see more of him during the UFC’s next trip down South to Brazil. Ovince St. Preux earned Knockout of the Night honors for his TKO of former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua which came at only 0:34 seconds into the fight. The 2-5 pound scrap was the headliner for this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil, and it resulted in the fastest UFC main event finish since UFC 55 back in October of 2005, where still-UFC heavyweight Andrei Arlovski defeated Paul Buntello via knockout at only 15 seconds into the contest. It was a very impressive outing for St. Preux, and a great win to have on his resume. Robert Whittaker and Clint Hester earned Fight of the Night honors for their war on the feet at this past Friday night’s UFC Fight Night 55 in Australia. It was a battle that went halfway into the second round of action, where the New Zealand native hurt Hester and followed up with heavy punches to get the referee to intervene and call it a fight. Whittaker was coming off a win against Mike Rhodes in the welterweight division in his last bout, and he stepped up to the middleweight division to take on Hester; a test he passed with flying colors. Whether it’s at 170 pounds or 185 pounds, one thing is for sure, fight fans look forward to seeing the TUF Smashes tournament winner in the Octagon soon. Thomas Almeida and Tim Gorman earned Fight of the Night honors for their three round scrap on the preliminary card of this past Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 56 in Brazil. It was a fun fight that ended up surprising many, as Gorman put up a better fight than most expected and avoided getting finished by the Brazilian. Almeida took home a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards, making it the first time the undefeated fighter has gone the distance in his professional mixed martial arts career. I believe he is a solid prospect at 135 pounds and very much look forward to his next outing.
