Eryk Anders, Justin Gaethje, and Cory Sandhagen vs. Iuri Alcantara picked up the bonuses at UFC Fight Night 135 on Saturday night in Lincoln, NB.
UFC Lincoln saw a ton of impressive finishes, leaving plenty to choose from when it came to awarding the Performance of the Night bonuses. Three submissions. Six KO/TKOs. Joanne Calderwood had the first submission win of her career. Rani Yahya finished Luke Sanders with a heel hook. In short, it was a tough crop to single out any two fighters from.
In the end, Calderwood and Yahya were left on the outside looking in. Instead, one of the Performance of the Night bonuses went to the most obvious choice: Justin Gaethje. It would have been criminal to overlook his blistering knockout of James Vick in the main event. Once again, Gaethje proved that he is, in fact, ‘The Highlight.’ In under two minutes, he silenced Vick, who struggled to make it up to his stool afterward.
The other Performance award, meanwhile, went to Eryk Anders. Anders shocked Tim Williams with a head kick in the third round of their middleweight bout, which opened up the main card on Fox Sports 1. The kick was perfectly timed as Williams began to climb back to his feet, lifting his hand off the canvas, making him a legal opponent.
Fight of the Night honors went to Cory Sandhagen vs. Irui Alcantara. A much easier selection, as the fight had an opening round that many are already calling the round of the year. Alcantara trapped Sandhagen in an arm-bar, and had the limb extended at a horrific angle. Yet Sandhagen toughed it out, and came back to put a beating on the Brazilian.
Bonuses!
POTN: @Justin_Gaethje | @ErykAnders
FOTN: @Cors_Life vs @IuriMarajo💰 50K 💰 pic.twitter.com/Hdrg4u76PQ
— UFC (@ufc) August 26, 2018
All four fights will pick up an additional $50,000 for their efforts at UFC Lincoln.
