Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Alexandre Pantoja went to work making flyweight great again Saturday at UFC 240, and picked up Fight of the Night honors in the process.
UFC 240 was an interesting card to say the least. Almost a year to the day from the promotion’s last visit to Alberta (UFC Calgary, July 28, 2018), the PPV event in Edmonton Saturday seemingly lived or died by its top two fights. Those, of course, being Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar in the main event, for featherweight gold. Plus Cris Cyborg vs. Felicia Spencer in the co-feature.
Below that, an okay but not stellar line-up of fights. Live or die by the marquee players, right?
Or so we thought. In the end, none of the four fighters atop the card took home bonuses, although Cris Cyborg vs. Felicia Spencer was certainly in the running for one, and had the best crowd reaction of the night at the Rogers Place arena. But instead, it was a reminder that flyweights do have their place in the UFC that earned Fight of the Night: Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Alexandre Pantoja. Their thrilling three round battle early on the preliminary card resulted in a unanimous decision for Brazil’s Figueiredo, one that left him calling for an interim title shot with Joseph Benavidez post-fight. But not for lack of effort from Alexandre Pantoja, who gave it his all Saturday.
Performance of the Night bonuses went to Geoff Neal, for his TKO win over Niko Price, and Hakeem Dawodu, for a late head kick finish of Japanese newcomer Yoshinori Horie.
The gate at the Rogers Place was $1,783,732.50 Canadian (USD $1,352,292.20), with 12,144 fans turning out to see the show on a very rainy Saturday in Edmonton.
