The Ultimate Fighting Championship was feeling especially generous
following a memorable evening in the Lonestar State.
When all was said and done, $500,000 in bonus money was given out
to the athletes from UFC on
ESPN 52 in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night. This included
$50,000 “Performance of the Night” checks to eight fighters on the
card who secured finishes: Arman
Tsarukyan, Jalin
Turner, Sean Brady,
Dustin
Stoltzfus, Miesha Tate,
Cody
Brundage, Drakkar
Klose and Jared
Gooden.
Particularly noteworthy in this group were the efforts of Brundage
and Klose, who became the first two fighters in UFC history to win
bouts via slam KO on the same card. Elsewhere, Tsarukyan stopped
Beneil
Dariush in just 64 seconds in the evening’s lightweight
headliner, while Turner dispatched Bobby Green
2:49 into the opening stanza of their 155-pound co-main event.
The only finisher who didn’t receive a “Performance of the Night”
check was Rodolfo
Bellato, but that was because he shared “Fight of the Night”
honors with opponent Ihor
Potieria for their back-and-forth light heavyweight clash.
After nearly being finished by his Ukrainian foe, Bellato rallied
to stop Potieria with a barrage of offense from mount at the 4:17
mark of Round 2.