UFC 288 certainly came with its fair share of surprises — and one of those took home the Fight of the Night bonus.
That surprise was the showing put on by Diego Lopes, who stepped in to replace Bryce Mitchell on just three days’ notice against Movsar Evloev. Russia’s Evloev, a former M-1 champ, was a perfect 16-0 to start the featherweight fight. He would end it 17-0, but not before Lopes rocked him on the feet, and nearly caught him in a couple of submission attempts, including a late kneebar.
While Evloev came away with the win, Lopes unquestionably earned some new fans on Saturday. He also earned $50,000 for his share of the Fight of the Night bonus, which UFC President Dana White announced during the post-fight press conference.
Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC 288 went to Yan Xiaonan and Matt Frevola, and for good reason. Frevola took on Drew Dober in the featured preliminary fight, which ended inside of a round with the “Steamrolla” putting down Dober with a right hand.
On the man card, Xiaonan shocked by finishing the hard-hitting former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade, catching her on the way in with her own right hand.
Attendance at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ for UFC 288 was 17,559, per White, for a gate of 5.12 million USD.
