Justin Gaethje picked up his seventh UFC bonus in six fights, while Tristan Connelly cashed in twice when bonuses were handed out at UFC Vancouver.
Vancouver, B.C. — It was a big night in Vancouver for the UFC. Overcoming a slow start to the Fight Night card, UFC Vancouver picked up steam as the night went on. Augusto Sakai closed out the preliminary card with a big knockout of Marcin Tybura. In turn, Misha Cirkunov opened the main with a Peruvian Necktie submission, rarely seen in the UFC or any major promotion.
While Sakai was shut out of the bonus bounty, Cirkunov picked up one of two Performance of the Night bonuses. The other, not at all surprisingly, went to main event star Justin Gaethje. Gaethje once again proved to be ‘The Highlight,’ earning a TKO win over Cowboy Cerrone within a round. The win improved Gaethje’s record to 21-2, and he’s now sitting on a three-fight win streak.
For those counting, that’s seven bonuses in six UFC fights for Gaethje. A date with the winner of Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, should it finally happen, seems likely.
As for Fight of the Night, that went to the Matrix-esque (call him the Brazilian Neo) Michel Pereira. Unfortunately for Pereira, he both missed weight, and came up short against late-notice replacement Tristan Connelly. Connelly wore Pereira down over the course of three rounds, winning his UFC debut. Not only that, but as UFC Senior Vice President David Shaw said after the fights, “with Pereira missing weight, Connelly doubles up on the bonus.”
Connelly therefore gets $100,000 in bonus money, while Gaethje and Cirkunov get $50,000 each. Attendance, per Shaw, was 15,114, for a gate of $1.78 million CAD ($1.34 million USD).
