UFC Fight Night 89 produced a solid night of action, with nine of 12 betting underdogs cashing in. 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 Bookmakerss. John Lineker earns Performance of the Night honors for his first round knockout of former UFC bantamweight title challenger Michael McDonald, and with the win, he will climb up the rankings at 135-pounds. McDonald made the mistake of getting into a brawl with Lineker. Standing and trading with the Brazilian cost “May Day” the fight, as Lineker’s chin held up while McDonald’s was ultimately unable to, despite multiple recoveries. Louis Smolka earns Performance of the Night honors for his second round TKO of Ben Nguyen, earning arguably the most impressive victory of his professional mixed martial arts career. The Hawaiian is now on a four fight winning streak inside the Octagon, and after a complete domination of Nguyen, he hopes to be inching towards a title shot and a possible scrap against Wilson Reis. Other noteworthy performances: – Keita Nakamura defeated Kyle Noke via rear naked choke submission with only one second remaining in the second round. Nakamura was pushing the action and hurting Noke on the feet, eventually dropping him and taking his bank to sink in the quick choke, which he is now becoming famous for doing. – Alex Nicholson defeated Devin Clark via first round knockout, with only three seconds remaining in the opening stanza. It was an impressive come from behind victory for Nicholson, who appeared to be on his way towards a second consecutive Octagon defeat. Tony Ferguson and Lando Vannata earn Fight of the Night honors for their one and a half round war in the co-main event for UFC Fight Night 91 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Despite being the undersized fighter of the pair, Vannata got the better of Ferguson in the first round of action, hurting him multple times and coming close to finishing the fight. “El Cucuey” survived and Vannata faded, resulting in a turn of the tables on the second round, where Vannata slowed down and became flat footed. He started making mistakes and one of them cost him, resulting in a d’Arce choke submission victory for Ferguson. This was a very entertaining contest that certainly delivered the fireworks. Fight fans look forward to seeing Vannata back inside the Octagon, preferably in his natural weight class of 145-pounds. Other noteworthy fight(s): – The aforementioned McDonald vs Lineker bout. – The aforementioned Smolka vs Nguyen bout.
