New father Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone got a $50,000 baby bonus at UFC Denver on Saturday, but it was Yair Rodriguez who really cashed in.
On a night that had some pretty impressive finishes (welcome to the UFC, Devonte Smith and Maycee Barber), the top two fights on the UFC Denver card stole the show. And stole all the bonuses. Befitting a guy named Cowboy Cerrone and dressed like an outlaw, come to think of it. After all, he did hold up Mike Perry for $50,000.
Not exactly. However, Cerrone’s painful-to-watch finish of Perry (Perry later reported his arm was broken in the submission) earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. The arm-bar submission came in the first round, in front of a roaring audience in Cerrone’s native Colorado. Perry showed some surprisingly sharp takedown defense early, but it didn’t matter in the end. With the win, Cerrone claimed the record for UFC victories.
The other bonuses? Well, two went to Yair Rodriguez. His insane (and insanely creative) upswing elbow knocked out The Korean Zombie in the final second of their main event fight. To that point, Rodriguez had been down on the scorecards (two judges scoring it for Zombie, a third having it a draw heading into the final frame). The back-and-forth striking spectacle was a lock to earn Fight of the Night before the championship rounds ever hit; the insanity of the elbow was certainly worth the second Performance of the Night bonus.
💰 BONUSES 💰
FOTN: @KoreanZombieMMA vs @PanteraUFC
POTN: @PanteraUFC & @CowboyCerrone #UFC25Years #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/9pRXyu967x— UFC (@ufc) November 11, 2018
All three fighters in this instance will pick up an extra $50,000 (actually $100,000 for Yair Rodriguez since he doubled down).
