Esteban
Ribovics and Daniel
Zellhuber brought the Sphere to life with their memorable clash
at UFC
306 on Saturday night.
As a result, the lightweights received “Fight of the Night” honors
and $50,000 apiece. Ribovics and Zellhuber traded willingly
throughout the contest, culminating in a wild final frame that saw
both men hurt at different points in the stanza. Ultimately,
Ribovics was able to pour it on down the stretch to emerge with a
split-decision triumph in a fight that will end up on plenty of
year-end awards lists when all is said and done.
Elsewhere, Ignacio
Bahamondes garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award
for his first-round stoppage of Manuel
Torres in a preliminary lightweight affair. Bahamondes was able
to floor his foe with clean counters on two separate occasions, the
second of which set the stage for a technical knockout victory at
the 4:06 mark of Round 1.
Finally, Ketlen
Souza captured the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” check with a quick finish of Yazmin
Jauregui in a preliminary strawweight encounter. The Brazilian
dropped her foe with a left hand before transitioning to a
rear-naked choke to elicit a tapout 3:02 into the opening stanza.