The UFC Vegas 20 card ended up being something of a mixed bag. The main and co-main events both under-performed, with even Magomed Ankalaev, who won the night’s co-feature, bemoaning that his win “wasn’t as spectacular as I wanted it to be” during the post-fight press conference.
The Fight Night event took several hits leading into Saturday night, with a number of bouts cancelled: Angela Hill vs. Ashley Yoder, Sam Hughes vs. Emily Whitmire, Alex Olivira vs. Ramazan Kuramagomedov, Alonzo Menifield vs. William Knight, and Raphael Assunção vs. Raoni Barcelos. Which isn’t even the full list, but rather, the more recent cancellations.
In short, with just nine fights and eight going the distance, the pickings were slim come bonus time. Ronnie Lawrence, who made his debut Saturday, picked up the only Performance of the Night bonus at UFC Vegas 20. He was rewarded for an action-filled fight full of spinning attacks, and even a suplex, that ended in a TKO win over Vince Cachero.
Fight of the Night, meanwhile, went to Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera. The pair met in a rematch of their 2015 affair, which saw Rivera win a split decision. This time out, it was Munhoz’s time to shine. He absolutely decimated the lead leg of Rivera with calf kicks. Rivera gutted it out, and showed off his boxing prowess, but that kicking attack was too much in the end, with Munhoz winning a unanimous decision to draw their career series even.
A rubber match would be an easy sell. In the meantime, all three men pick up an extra $50,000 in bonus money.
