Vinicius
Oliveira just submitted his entry for “Knockout of the Year,”
and that effort made him a little extra money in the process.
The Brazilian pocketed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award
by virtue of highlight-reel finish of Bernardo
Sopai in a preliminary bantamweight showdown at
UFC Fight Night 238 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
After surviving some precarious moments earlier in the bout,
Oliveira got stronger as the fight progressed before rendering his
opponent unconscious with a flying knee at the 4:41 mark of Round
3.
Sopai wasn’t left out in the cold, however. Both he and Oliveira
received $50,000 apiece and “Fight of the Night” honors for what
was a back-and-forth affair.
Elsewhere, Steve Erceg
received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his
second-round KO of Matt
Schnell in a featured flyweight affair. After a competitive
opening stanza, Erceg vanquished his foe with a left hook that sent
Schnell crashing to the canvas, instantly ending the bout 26
seconds into Round 2.