ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT KO FOR @JudoRazak!
Less than 30 seconds in
#UFCVegas35 pic.twitter.com/1boiMBLTfB— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA)
August 29, 2021
Abdul
Razak Alhassan is back on track, and his bank acount is a
primary beneficiary.
Alhassan ended a three-bout skid in style, capturing a $50,000
“Performance of the Night” award for a spectacular knockout of
Alessio
Di Chirico at
UFC on ESPN 30 in a middleweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. “Judo Thunder” wasted little time before connecting with a
head kick that landed shin-on-face and instantly rendered his
Italian opponent unconscious 17 seconds into Round 1. Alhassan is
one of seven fighters in UFC history with three knockouts in less
than one minute.
Meanwhile, Giga
Chikadze earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for
his third-round stoppage of Edson
Barboza in the featherweight main event. The Georgian displayed
superior speed throughout the contest before dropping his opponent
twice in the third round for a TKO win at the 1:44 mark of the
period.
Elsewhere, Gerald
Meerschaert pocketed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus
by virtue of his come-from-behind submission win over Makhmud
Muradov at middleweight. After surviving a standup onslaught
from his opponent in the opening frame, Meerschaert was able to
secure a rear-naked choke for the tapout 1:49 into the second
round.
Finally, Pat
Sabatini garnered the card’s fourth $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” award thanks to a quick tapout of Jamall
Emmers in a preliminary featherweight affair. Initially, it was
Emmers who punished Sabatini with strikes on the feet before taking
his adversary’s back and threatening with a rear-naked choke. From
there, Sabatini and Emmers attacked with dueling leg locks, but it
was Sabatini’s heel hook that damaged his foe’s knee and ended the
bout 1:53 into Round 1.