UFC Vegas 60 had a couple of wars, but none was as wild as the middleweight co-main event between Gregory Rodrigues and Chidi Njokuani.
A hotly anticipated match-up in advance of Saturday’s Fight Night card, Rodrigues vs. Njokuani more than lived up to expectations. Brazil’s Rodrigues absorbed a nasty cut on the forehead during the opening round, care of a well-placed Njokuani knee. But toughness, and a lenient cageside physician, allowed Rodrigues to fight through it. He managed to knock Njokuani down that very same round, and came out looking to finish things off in the second. That he did, putting Njokuani out on the ground with some vicious ground n’ pound.
The intense, back-and-forth fight saw Rodrigues and Njokuani earn Fight of the Night honors. That’s the third post-fight bonus in five UFC bouts for “Robocop” Rodrigues.
Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Vegas 60 went to Joe Pyfer and Damon Jackson. Pyfer, a breakout star from the ongoing sixth season of Dana White’s Contender Series, knocked out Alen Amedovski inside of a round in his UFC debut. After the fight, he revealed that Dana White had given him a locker room bonus that had allowed him to secure housing for the year — with an extra $50,000 no doubt helping that.
Saturday happened to be Pyfer’s birthday, making the bonus especially timely.
The other Performance bonus on Saturday went to Damon Jackson, who finished Pat Sabatini with a barrage of punches from mount in little over a minute. Just a week prior, Jackson’s brother had passed away, making UFC Vegas 60 a very emotional affair for the featherweight.
