There was no Fight of the Night handed out at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 105, and that’s starting to become a familiar sight.
The last time the UFC deemed any fight worthy of Fight of the Night honors was UFC 313, when Justin Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev for the second time. That lightweight war was no doubt a hard act to follow, but it’s rare to see the promotion forgo a Fight of the Night bonus for this long.
In the ensuing weeks, UFC Vegas 104, UFC London, UFC Mexico City, and now UFC Vegas 105 instead saw only Performance of the Night bonuses handed out. On each occasion, four Performance bonuses were awarded instead, and that’s the case again this week.
Collecting $50,000 in bonus money at UFC Vegas 105 were Ode Osbourne, Rhys McKee, Dione Barbosa, and Chang-Ho Lee. They happen to be the only fighters on the Fight Night card, an underwhelming one to say the least, who actually had finishes. In other words, the pickings were a bit slim.
Barbosa submitted Diana Belbita in the opening round of their featured prelim, contested at flyweight. Osbourne, meanwhile, knocked out newcomer Luis Gurule in violent fashion (is there any other way to knock someone out?) on the main card. Chang Ho-Lee got it done against Cortavious Romious with a TKO in the second round, while Rhys McKee laid a beatdown on Contender Series alum Daniel Frunza that was so bad, the doctor stopped the fight prior to round two commencing.
For what it’s worth, Frunza weathered a category five storm and managed to finish the round in somewhat competitive fashion, but the damage to his eye was so bad, the doctor really had no choice.
