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There were no suprises when it came to bonus selections at
UFC
253, as Israel
Adesanya, Jan
Blachowicz, Brandon
Royval and Kai Kara
France eached received an extra $50,000 for their work in Abu
Dhabi on Saturday night.
Adesanya earned a “Performance of the Night” award for an
impressive stoppage of Paulo Costa
in the evening’s middleweight headliner. “The Last Stylebender”
chopped away at his opponent’s legs early before flooring the
Brazilian with a left hook and sealing his victory with
ground-and-pound at the 3:59 mark of Round 2 to retain his
185-pound title.
Meanwhile, Blachowicz garnered the evening’s other “Performance of
the Night” check for a second-round technical knockout of Dominick
Reyes in a matchup for the vacant light heavyweight crown in
the co-main event. The Polish veteran appeared to break Reyes’ nose
in Round 2 before dropping him with a left hand behind the ear.
From there, Blachowicz unloaded with standing-to-ground strikes
until the bout was halted at the 4:36 mark of the frame.
Finally, Royval and Kara-France shared “Fight of the Night” honors
for their brief but thrilling flyweight scrap. After a wild opening
round that featured a combined three knockdowns, Royval quickly
secured a fight-ending guillotine 48 seconds into Round 2.
