Alexander
Volkanovski and Brian
Ortega put on a show in the Octagon in the
UFC 266 headliner, and both men received a little extra
compensation for their efforts at the end of the evening.
Volkanovski and Ortega garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and
$50,000 apiece for their featherweight championship bout at the
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. While Volkanovski
ultimately prevailed via unanimous decision behind a relentless
pace and volume striking, he endured a few precarious moments in
the bout, most notably a pair of tight submission attempts in the
third frame. Both men continued to stand in trade until the final
horn in a clash that will undoubtely end up on some year-end awards
lists.
Elsewhere, Merab
Dvalishvili captured a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus
by virtue of his come-from-behind triumph against Marlon
Moraes in a preliminary bantamweight tilt. After nearly being
finished by strikes in Round 1, the Georgian fighter regained his
wits and gradually imposed his will through takedowns and
ground-and-pound. Dvalishvili continued his assault in Round 2 and
put Moraes away with punches at the 4:25 mark of the period.
Finally, Chris
Daukaus earned the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” award thanks to a stoppage of Shamil
Abdurakhimov in a preliminary heavyweight affair. Daukaus
dropped his adversary with a left hook in Round 1 before flooring
the Russian with a right early in the second stanza. Follow-up
punches and elbows sealed the victory for Daukaus 1:23 into Round
2.