The final UFC event of 2023, UFC 296 had some memorable performances, but the second the final horn had sounded, one fight was clearly in the lead for Fight of the Night.
The women’s bantamweight bout between Irene Aldana and Karol Rosa hadn’t exactly screamed fire on paper. Aldana was fresh off a loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 289 in June in a failed title bid; Rosa had been trading wins and losses and was returning to 135lbs.
Yet as the fight got underway, Rosa quickly showed off a smart game plan, chopping at the legs of the ex-title challenger. Aldana, eating some nasty leg kicks, stood firm, eventually getting her boxing going and busting up the face of Rosa— while being bloodied herself.
Aldana, with two prior Fight of the Night bonuses to her name, would go on to win a unanimous decision with triplicate 29-28 scores. She now owns three Fight of the Night and two Performance of the Night bonuses since arriving in the UFC in 2016. For Rosa, though defeated, the bonus money should soften the blow.
Three Performance of the Night bonuses were awarded at UFC 296, as Shamil Gaviev, Ariane Lipski, and Josh Emmett all collected. Emmett’s knockout of Bryce Mitchell came with such force that the Arkansas native was left convulsing on the mat afterwards, in a frightening scene. While he eventually came to and was able to stand, wobbly legs required him to be escorted from the cage with assistance; a lengthy medical suspension is no doubt in Mitchell’s future.
Emmett, meanwhile, remains one of the most hard-hitting featherweights in the business. As for Lipski, the “Queen of Violence” lived up to her moniker in the best performance of her UFC run, as she put on a one-sided drubbing of Casey O’Neill that ended with an arm-bar submission.
Heavyweight Gaziev opened the UFC 296 card with a TKO finish of Martin Buday. All four bonuses winning fighters will pocket an extra $50,000 on top of their show/win money.
