...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Though the main event disappointed on Wednesday's "Ultimate Fighter: Nations" Finale card, there were quite a few entertaining performances, and four fighters received $50,000 bonuses for their efforts on the card.
At the post-fight press conference, the UFC announced that K.J. Noons and Ryan Jimmo earned "Performance of the Night" bonuses, while Dustin Poirier and Akira Corassani got the nod for "Fight of the Night."
Noons and Jimmo each scored brutal KO wins which ended with some strikes on the ground. Noons' came against Sam Stout on the night's main card, just 30 seconds into the first round. He scored an overhand right directly to Stout's jaw, knocking him out and bringing him back to consciousness with a few more strikes on the ground.
Jimmo, meanwhile, was actually losing to Sean O'Connell for much of the first round, then he scored an excellent counter that put O'Connell down. A few more follow-up strikes put O'Connell out.
Poirier and Corassani had a bonkers opening round, with Corassani actually hurting Poirier early despite being a massive underdog. Poirier showed why that was the case, though, as he recovered quickly, then started beating Corassani up. He almost pulled off a Peruvian necktie submission late in the first, but Corassani wound up making it out of the round.
It didn't take long from there, though, as Poirier landed a big uppercut that broke Corassani's nose, then followed up with several strikes up against the cage that sent a covered up Corassani down to the mat.
Penick's Analysis: I'm surprised Jimmo got the bonus and not, say, Sarah Kaufman for scoring the third most significant strikes (202) ever in the UFC. There were other options as well which may have made more sense, as Jimmo was actually not doing all that great before the finish. That said, it's more of a "KO of the Night" supplement anyway at this point.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.