It was a night for fresh faces to shine when it came to post-fight
bonuses at UFC
312.
That included towering newcomer Tallison
Teixeira, who took home a $50,000 “Performance of the Night”
check for making short work of Justin Tafa
in a featured heavyweight affair at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on
Saturday night. The 6-foot-8 Teixeira stunned his foe with a knee
to the body and an elbow to the face, bringing an abrupt end to
their bout just 35 seconds into Round 1.
Meanwhile, an even quicker finish propelled Quillan
Salkilld to a $50,000 “Peformance of the Night” bonus in the
opening fight of the evening. The Aussie needed just 19 seconds to
wallop Anshul
Jubli with a right hand behind the ear in their lightweight
encounter, getting his UFC career off to a memorable start in
process.
Finally, Zhu Rong and
Kody
Steele garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece
for a spirited preliminary lightweight slugfest. The combatants
collaborated on a “Round of the Year” candidate in the opening
stanza and continued to brawl from there, but it was Rong who
ultimately connected with the more meaningful offense throughout to
earned a unanimous decision triumph.