Six fighters from UFC
265 boosted their bank accounts with bonus checks on Saturday
night at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Not only did Ciryl Gane
claim interim heavyweight gold, but he received a $50,000
“Performance of the Night” award for his dominant win over Derrick
Lewis in the evening’s main event. Gane outlanded his opponent
by a whopping 98-to-16 count in significant strikes en route to a
third-round technical knockout victory, much to the chagrin of a
vocal hometown throng in attendance to support Lewis.
Elsewhere, Vicente
Luque garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for a
first-round submission of Michael
Chiesa in a featured welterweight contest. After nearly being
trapped in a rear-naked choke, Luque turned the tables to submit
his opponent with a brabo choke at the 3:25 mark of Round 1.
Earlier, Rafael
Fiziev and Bobby Green
received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their
high-octane preliminary scrap at lightweight. The two athletes
traded liberally for three rounds, with Fiziev running out to an
early lead on the scorecards thanks to more powerful strikes, but
Green made things interesting with a high-output Round 3.
Ultimately it wasn’t enough, as Fiziev captured a unanimous
decision triumph.
Jessica
Penne was rewarded for her first submission victory since 2013
with a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” payday. The former
Invicta FC title holder made Karolina
Kowalkiewicz pay for following her to the canvas, as she
secured a tapout via armbar 4:32 into the first frame of their
strawweight clash.
Finally, Miles Johns
captured the evening’s final $50,000 “Performance of the Night”
payment thanks to a knockout of Anderson
dos Santos in a preliminary bantamweight tilt. Johns was in
control throughout before flooring his Brazilian foe with a
body-head hook combination at the 1:16 mark of Round 3 to instantly
end the bout.