There were a couple of solid candidates, but ultimately, the UFC Vegas 96 main event took home the Fight of the Night bonus on Saturday.
And at the end of five rounds, there was really little surprise.
Caio Borralho’s name might have raised a few eyebrows when he was first booked opposite the #5-ranked UFC middleweight Jared Cannonier to top the Fight Night event. Ranked outside of the top 10 at #12, he was getting a considerable step up in competition, given Cannonier had previously challenged Israel Adesanya for gold.
As it turned out, Borralho was more than up to the task. In an evenly matched fight where both men did their share of damage, Borralho had “The Killa Gorilla” hurt on multiple occasions. While the Brazilian was rocked himself at least once, he came closed to finishing the fight, nearly putting Cannonier away first with ground n’ pound, then with an arm-triangle choke in the final round.
The action-packed, wildly entertaining main event was more than worthy of the $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus.
Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Vegas 96 went to Gerald Meerschaert, for his come-from-behind submission of Edmen Shahbazyan. GM3 was nearly put away in the opening round of the middleweight main card opener, only for Shahbazyan to punch himself out and get caught in a sub in round two. Welterweight Michael Morales took home the other Performance bonus on Saturday, after stopping the durable Neil Magny via TKO.
All four bonus winners will pocket an additional $50,000 for their efforts on Saturday, on a card that also closed out The Ultimate Fighter 32.
