Al Iaquinta finally gets to cash in a bonus check, as he picked up a Performance of the Night award at UFC Milwaukee.
Change was in the air at UFC Milwaukee on Saturday night. The FOX era was being ushered out the door. After seven years on the broadcast network, the UFC was jumping to sporting behemoth ESPN. To close out the era, the promotion booked Al Iaquinta vs. Kevin Lee as the main event for UFC on FOX 31, a promising lightweight scrap that wouldn’t earn either man a title shot, but would at least keep the winner in the conversation.
Just like he did he did four years ago at UFC 169, Iaquinta earned a unanimous decision against Lee. Okay, so maybe that doesn’t fit with change being in the air exactly. But this time, it was a five round fight. And this time, Iaquinta earned himself a Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts. Something he’d previously been banned from. The ban appears off, however, with Iaquinta collecting an extra $50,000 for his defeat of Kevin Lee.
Fight of the Night, meanwhile, went to Joaquim Silva and Jared Gordon, who put on a war through the better part of three rounds. With Silva at one point signalling that he wanted to stand and trade, Gordon obliged, if briefly. That he might of been up at that point in the fight was an afterthought.
💰 B O N U S 💰
FOTN: @JFlashGordonMMA vs. @NettoBJJ
POTN: @ALIAQUINTA & @CharlesDoBronxs pic.twitter.com/jAMKRBxzJW
— UFC (@ufc) December 16, 2018
That win left an excellent but hard to watch beatdown of Dan Hooker at the hands of Edson Barboza out in the cold. Hooker’s toughness became a thing of legend on Saturday at UFC Milwaukee, as Barboza assailed him with body shots before a final punch sent him crumpling to the canvas.
The final Performance of the Night bonus went to Charles Oliveira, for his submission of Jim Miller in another lightweight rematch on the card.
