Alex
Pereira may have punched his ticket to a middleweight title
shot with his first-round knockout victory over Sean
Strickland at UFC
276.
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While that opportunity is still a little ways down the road,
“Poatan” did garner a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for
his work in the Octagon at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on
Saturday night. Pereira buckled Strickland with a clean left hook,
then finished off his opponent with two right hands for a stoppage
at the 2:36 mark of Round 1.
Elsewhere, Bryan
Barberena and Robbie
Lawler received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece
for their entertaining welterweight slugfest. Both men traded
willingly in the pocket throughout the fight, but Barberena
gradually overwhelmed Lawler with superior volume en route to a
technical knockout victory 4:47 into the second stanza.
Earlier, Jalin
Turner pocketed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check
thanks to his fifth consecutive finish, a first-round tapout of
Brad
Riddell in a preliminary lightweight tussle. Turner rocked his
foe with a right hand, and when Riddell shot out of desperation,
secured a mounted guillotine for a tapout just 45 seconds after the
bout began.
Finally, Julija
Stoliarenko took home the card’s final $50,000 “Performance of
the Night” payout by virtue of a quick submission victory against
Jessica-Rose
Clark at bantamweight. Stoliarenko took her opponent down,
landed in side control and quickly transitioned to an armbar,
forcing a tapout 42 seconds into Round 1.