...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Saturday's UFC 155 event didn't provide a ton of competition for the night's $65,000 bonuses, and the winners made their cases pretty clearly during the event in Las Vegas.
Two of the bonuses went to fighters on the night's Facebook preliminary card broadcast, and it wasn't until the night's co-main event that the "Fight of the Night" was locked up.
"Submission of the Night" got locked up in the first fight, as John Moraga's third round finish of Chris Cariaso took the nod. Moraga was potentially down two rounds to none into the final frame, but came out with a sense of urgency, hurt Cariaso, and tightened up a nice front choke that forced the tap.
"Knockout of the Night" came two fights later, as Todd Duffee destroyed Phil De Fries in the first round in his return to the Octagon. He hurt him early, backed him up to the cage, and landed a great series of right hand punches to put De Fries down and out.
Finally, there was no question about the "Fight of the Night," as the Jim Miller-Joe Lauzon bout will be in contention for "Fight of the Year" honors. The thrilling lightweight bout exceeded expectations, with Miller putting forth a brutal assault for much of the fight, but Lauzon staying in there and nearly grabbing a desperation submission at the end of the bout. Despite the loss, Lauzon tied UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva for the most bonus-winning performances in UFC history, with his 12th Fight Night bonus award.
In addition to those bonuses, new UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez won a brand new Harley Davidson for his win in the night's main event.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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