Derrick
Lewis’ massive knockout of Curtis
Blaydes halted the championship aspirations of his opponent,
and it made “The Black Beast” $50,000 richer in the process.
Lewis received a “Performance of the Night” bonus thanks to a
finish of Blaydes 1:26 into the second round of their heavyweight
headliner at
UFC Fight Night 185 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
After getting outstruck for a round, Lewis timed a Blaydes’
takedown attempt and blasted his foe with an uppercut. The Houston
native sealed his win with a pair of brutal ground strikes.
Elsewhere, Chris
Daukaus garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for
making short work of Alexey
Oleynik in a featured heavyweight matchup. Daukaus forced the
submission specialist to remain standing and rocked the Russian
with a right hand, then swarmed with punches and knees against the
fence to secure a stoppage 1:55 into Round 1.
Tom
Aspinall was the third heavyweight on the main card to take
home a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check, as he submitted
Andrei
Arlovski with a rear-naked choke. The Englishman rocked his foe
with a combination in Round 1 but was unable to put “The Pit Bull”
away. In Round 2, Aspinall shifted, gears, scored a double-leg
takedown and quickly locked in the fight-ending hold 69 seconds
into the frame.
Earlier, Aiemann
Zahabi returned from hiatus to earn the event’s final $50,000
“Performance of the Night” payday with a resounding knockout of
Drako
Rodriguez in a preliminary bantamweight encounter. While
Rodriguez fared well in early exchanges, Zahabi landed the decisive
blow when he countered an uppercut with an overhand right to end
the bout 3:05 into the opening stanza.