The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was live last night (Dec. 20, 2014) from Brazil with UFC Fight Night 58, and after a solid night of scraps, the UFC awarded a $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus to four of the most impressive competitors of the evening. Lyoto Machida earned ‘Performance of the Night’ honors for his first round TKO of CB Dollaway, which came at just over a minute into the frame, marking the fastest finish in the Brazilian’s professional mixed martial arts career. It was a phenomenal outing by Machida, and a picture perfect way for him to get back into the win column following his unsuccessful run at Chris Weidman and his 185 pound title at UFC 175. Now with a win under his belt, the Brazilian has his sights set on a rematch with Weidman, as he believes he is the only middleweight capable of defeating him. Renan Barao earned ‘Performance of the Night’ honors for his third round submission victory over Mitch Gagnon. After getting the better of the French-Canadian for two rounds, Barao put him away in the third with an arm triangle choke. Now back into the win column following his UFC Bantamweight title loss to TJ Dillashaw, the Brazilian wants another crack at the gold. Erick Silva earned ‘Performance of the Night’ honors for his first round submission victory over Mike Rhodes. The Brazilian took the fight to the mat immediately, defended a D’Arce choke, then continued to advance position until he had an arm triangle choke sunk in deep. Rhodes did his best to defend, but ultimately went to sleep and the referee stopped the fight, ruling Silva the winner by technical submission. Following his third round TKO defeat at the hands of Matt Brown, this was a great way for Silva to bounce back into the win column. The finish came at 1:15 of the first round, and impressively enough it is just his fourth fastest finished in the UFC. It would have been his fifth, of not for a controversial DQ loss against Carlo Prater. Vitor Miranda earned ‘Performance of the Night’ honors for his first round TKO victory over Jake Collier. The now-former RFA middleweight champion was getting the better of Miranda for the entirety of the round, but all it took was one counter head-kick by Miranda to seal the deal, as it made Collier crumble. The Brazilian badly hurt Collier with the kick, and then followed up with punches until the referee intervened and call the fight. Miranda needs to work on his wrestling, but the 35-year old looked solid at 185 pounds with his highlight-reel knockout victory. Other noteworthy performances: – Patrick Cummins defeated Antonio Carlos Junior via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards after rounds of action, handing the Brazilian the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career. Cummins was dominant and incredibly impressive with his win over the TUF Brazil Season 3 heavyweight winner. The Brazilian was expected to be a real test for the American, and vice–versa, but Cummins passed it with flying colors and proved that he deserves a ranked opponent for his next outing. Junior dropped down from heavyweight to the light heavyweight division for this bout, but announced that he will be dropping further down to the middleweight division for his next appearance inside the Octagon. – Rashid Magomedov defeated Elias Silverio via third round TKO to gain his third straight victory inside the Octagon, while simultaneously making Silverio taste defeat for the first time in his professional mixed martial arts career. He outstruck the Brazilian for the entirety of the bout, culminating with a TKO finish with only three seconds remaining in the contest, marking the latest finish ever in a three round UFC bout. It was a solid outing by the Dagestani fighter, who continues to impress as he climbs the ranks of the UFC’s lightweight division. – Leandro Issa defeated Yuta Sasaki via second round submission to earn his second straight UFC victory. The Brazilian was one of the biggest underdogs on the entire UFC Fight Night 58 fight card heading into this bout against the Japanese prospect, but he proved to be the stronger fighter and superior grappler of the two, as he got the better of Sasaki on the mat for the majority of the bout, ending it with a neck crank in the second frame. This was definitely the best performance of Issa’s professional mixed martial arts career, and at 31 years of age, he continues to show improvements fight to fight.
