...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Four fighters earned bonuses of $70,000 for their efforts on Saturday in Las Vegas, as UFC President Dana White revealed after the event that Brian Stann, Jorge Santiago, Travis Browne and Gleison Tibau each earned "Fight Night" bonuses.
With an announced crowd of 12,816 for a live gate of $2.75 million, UFC 130 was unsurprisingly one of the lower performing events for the UFC in Las Vegas, but the night overall brought a mixture of exciting fights and disappointing performances. Stann, Browne and Tibau were all definitely in with the former, bringing excitement to a crowd that would ultimately boo the night's main event.
Stann and Santiago took the bonus for the "Fight of the Night" for their pay-per-view bout. Stann had dominated much of the action from the outset, utilizing crisp strikes and brutal leg kicks to keep Santiago off balance. Stann then finished the fight by TKO near the end of the second round after landing a big right. The win was Stann's third since dropping to the middleweight division, and second straight by strikes.
Browne took the night's "Knockout of the Night" with a perfectly timed superman punch against Stefan Struve. The punch landed four minutes into the first round as Struve tried to throw a flying knee, and he added a couple of strikes on the ground before the ref got in to stop the fight.
Tibau earned the night's "Submission of the Night" with his rear naked choke submission over Rafaello Oliveira. The fight was the only preliminary card bout to make the main pay-per-view broadcast at the end of the show.
Penick's Analysis: I would have given serious consideration to Torres-Johnson for fight of the night, but Stann-Santiago was a good fight. With Stann missing out on KO of the Night after Browne's win, the UFC was probably looking out for Stann with that bonus, and Santiago is the beneficiary of that choice. All in all, it wasn't the best event, but there were definitely enjoyable fights throughout, and all of these guys earned their bonuses.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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