Two of the biggest storylines surrounding UFC 267 paid off in spades on Saturday — and the fighters behind them both picked up some extra cash.
Glover Teixeira was the old lion looking at one last shot at glory at the event. His title fight against Jan Blachowicz was the culmination not just of a four-fight win streak compiled late in his career, but of a seven year journey back from a loss in his first title bid against Jon Jones in 2014.
At 42, Teixeira was once again the underdog heading into the fight. He once again proved the odds-makers wrong, controlling Blachowicz in the opening round, then rocking him in the second before taking him down and submitting him.
With the “and new” comes a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus. The other went to the returning Khamzat Chimaev, fighting for the first time in over a year. After a difficult battle with COVID-19, in which he believed he was near death, Chimaev steam-rolled Li Jingliang, making a good welterweight look average prior to choking him out.
Chimaev’s Performance of the Night bonus is his fourth in four UFC fights. And now that he’s back to full health, he is going to be a very big problem for both the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
Fight of the Night honors at UFC 267 went to the co-main event, which saw a five-round bantamweight title fight play out between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen. With the interim belt on the line, Sandhagen was as game as they come, and looked strong in the opening rounds. As the fight wore on, however, Yan’s boxing became the story, as he began turning the tide — earning a unanimous decision at the end of 25 minutes.
The win sets up the inevitable title unification bout with Aljamain Sterling, likely sometime in the first half of next year.
