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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC upped the ante for their "Fight Night" bonuses with a record gate and attendance at UFC 129, handing out $129,000 bonuses to four fighters for their performance on the card.
After announcing a North American record paying attendance of 55,724 fans and a live gate of $12.1 million, the UFC revealed the night's bonus winners, and Pablo Garza, Lyoto Machida, Mark Hominick and Jose Aldo each have an extra $129,000 for their efforts on Saturday.
Garza took the event's "Submission of the Night" on the very first fight on the card, pulling off a flying triangle submission over Yves Jabouin in the first round. Though Jabouin gave him some fits early, battering him with a few hard leg kicks and combinations, Garza utilized his height and reach advantage, landing a few hard knees in the Thai clinch before trapping Jabouin's left arm and jumping into the triangle. Though it took him a bit longer to get the hold cinched in, ultimately Jabouin was forced to tap.
It looked like John Makdessi would be a run away winner for "Knockout of the Night" after he connected with a vicious spinning back fist to crush Kyle Watson in the third round of their fight on the preliminary card, but Lyoto Machida had other plans. Pulling off a flying crane kick to the face of Randy Couture - a kick that knocked Couture's tooth out and sent him violently to the canvas - Machida took the bonus from Makdessi with a serious "Knockout of the Year" contender.
The "Fight of the Night" went to what wound up to be a thrilling fight between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick for the UFC Featherweight Championship. The first round of the fight went about as expected, with Aldo being the more precise striker, landing combinations and vicious leg kicks to win the round. However, the second round saw Aldo visibly slowed and allowed Hominick to get back into things, though he was still behind in the fight.
Aldo saw a burst of energy in the third and fourth rounds, laying on more punishment against Hominick and knocking him down with strikes twice. In the fourth, after knocking him to the ground, Aldo landed an elbow to Hominick's forehead that caused a massive hematoma. Somehow the doctors allowed Hominick to continue, and in the fifth round he made an effort to steal the fight. After taking a clearly exhausted Aldo to the ground, Hominick battered the tired champion for the remainder of the round, ending the fight in top position and drawing the cheers of the crowd.
The fifth round effort was too little, too late for Hominick, and Aldo retained the title, but the thrilling five round affair brought an extra $129,000 to both fighters.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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