The UFC’s latest trip to Jacksonville, Florida is in the books, and four fighters are $50,000 richer.
It was an early start at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday, with the main card of this year’s UFC Jacksonville airing on ABC. Early morning violence (or afternoon, depending on which coast you resided on, with apologies to our international friends), and some compelling fights — including a slugfest between Trevor Peek and newcomer Chepe Mariscal.
That fight, which wound up going the distance, was shut out of the bonus money, superseded in the end by the main event featherweight tilt between Ilia Topuria and Josh Emmett. A number of questions were answered in the fight, primary among them, that Topuria is now indeed a main event player in the 145 pound division.
And just in case you had forgotten, Emmett reminded everyone that he does indeed have a granite chin and rocks for hands. What he didn’t have, however, was a way to shut Topuria down, instead taking a beating that, although spread across five rounds, should signal at least some concern at age 38 about how long the Team Alpha Male fighter wants to continue in the sport.
Retirement talk can come another day, however. For now, Emmett can at least take some small solace in the extra 50K he pocketed as one half of the Fight of the Night.
Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Jacksonville went to well-deserved efforts from Maycee Barber, who put away Amanda Ribas via TKO in the second round of her own bloody war, and David Onama. Onama’s knockout of Gabriel Santos earned him his second straight post-fight bonus and third overall. One fight prior, Onama had been awarded Fight of the Night for a war with Nate Landwehr.
Barber improved her win streak in the women’s flyweight division to five, and appears to be closer than ever to a coveted title shot.
All four bonus-winning fighters at the UFC Jacksonville card will pick up $50,000 on top of their show/win money on the night.
