Saturday’s UFC Houston card suffered a slow start, but once the main card hit, all cylinders were firing.
On a card with just five finishes, four Performance of the Night bonuses were awarded, with the main card producing all four winners.
Among them was main event winner Sean Strickland, who had a vintage showing against Anthony Hernandez across two and a half rounds. The end came care of a knee, which “Fluffy” immediately reacted to. As he tried to recover, Strickland swarmed, unloading lefts and rights and finishing with a few strikes while Hernandez was on the ground.
The co-main event, which saw Uros Medic put away Geoff Neal with a lightning-fast KO, produced another bonus winner. It took all of a minute and 19 seconds for Medic to get the job done, arguably the biggest win of his career.
Melquizael Costa also earned a Performance bonus, dispatching Dan Ige with a perfectly placed spinning back kick. And Jacobe Smith, who smashed through Josiah Harrell, was the final Performance of the Night bonus winner.
Per UFC President and CEO Dana White, UFC Houston took in a $3.3 million U.S. gate, with 17,160 fans in attendance at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, a sellout.
All four bonus winners earn $100,000 U.S. for their efforts. The remaining finish at UFC Houston, which saw Joselyne Edwards submit Nora Cornolle (who suffered a shoulder injury off a slam takedown), will earn a $25,000 finish bonus. No Fight of the Night was awarded at the event.
