UFC 181 was live from Las Vegas this past Saturday night (Dec. 3, 2015) and on Pay Per View. Following a somewhat lackluster event, 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 Bookmakerss. Paul Felder earns Performance of the Night for his beautiful second round spinning back fist knockout of veteran Danny Castillo, which is the third spinning back fist knockout in UFC history. It was a very impressive performance by Felder from start to finish, and he moves to 2-0 in the UFC’s lightweight division, while keeping his professional mixed martial arts record intact at 10-0. Shawn Jordan earns Performance of the Night for his first round knockout of undefeated promotional newcomer Jared Cannonier. It was a solid outing by Jordan, and the win makes it two in a row for him in the UFC’s heavyweight division. Other noteworthy performances: – Marion Reneau defeated Alexis Dufresne via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards following three dominant rounds of action. It was a completely one sided fight that favored Reneau, who totally battered Dufresne on the feet and made her look like an amateur. The fight could really have been stopped at multiple points, but it ultimately went the distance and she took home the decision, displaying excellent conditioning, as well as striking. She was expected to look to implement her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but surprised many by keeping the fight on the feet and looking excellent with her striking. She was turned down by Dana White to compete on TUF for being too old, and with her performance this past Saturday night, she made him regret that decision. – Cody Garbrandt defeated Marcus Brimage via third round TKO to pick up his first UFC victory while simultaneously remaining undefeated as a professional mixed martial artist at 6-0. It was a very impressive debut for Gabrandt, who controlled the fight on the feet, and ended up stopping Brimage with only 10 seconds remaining in the final stanza. He is another Team Alpha Male fighter to keep an eye on at 135 pounds. – Donald Cerrone defeated Myles Jury via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards after three one-sided rounds of action. “Cowboy” got the better of Jury wherever the fight went and had him backpedaling throughout most of the bout, which frustrated the former WEC lightweight title contender. Many picked the undefeated Jury to upset the veteran, but Cerrone proved all naysayers wrong with that dominant performance, proving he is amongst the elite in the division. Following the impressive outing, he is already scheduled for a very quick turnaround to action in a rubber-match against former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston two weeks from now. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier earn Fight of the Night for hard-fought, back and forth 25 minute war this past Saturday night, which ultimately resulted with Jones successfully defending his title with a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards. This fight was the biggest test of Jones’ professional mixed martial arts career and the champion passed it with flying colors. For his next outing, he will look to take on the winner of Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Johnson, which takes place in the main event of January 24’s UFC on FOX 14 in Sweden. Other noteworthy fights: – The aforementioned Garbrandt vs Brimage, which is the only other fight on the entire UFC 182 fight card that is worth a mention. Despite Garbrandt being in control of the bout, it was an entertaining fight the fans enjoyed.
