UFC 153 Fighter Bonuses: Jon Fitch Delivers on Fight of the Night Bonus
It was a sold-out UFC 153 crowd at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday night. They might not have got some of the fights they first bargained for – with Jose Aldo and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson dropping off due to injury – but the fights they did get delivered.
UFC president Dana White handed out the customary post-show fighter bonuses after the event was over, to the tune of $70,000 for each award winner.
Jon Fitch came into UFC 153 with a revised sense of purpose, aiming for the Fight of the Night bonus for his bout with Erick Silva, and he got it.
He and Silva took the fight at each other and ended up going the distance, but it wasn’t for a lack of either man trying to finish the fight. Fitch even rallied from a deep choke in the second round to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Silva in round three, earning a unanimous nod from the judges.
Fitch and Silva each take home an additional $70,000 for their efforts.
Rony Jason and Sam Sicilia had to have been contenders for the Fight of the Night bonus, battling back and forth with near finishes of their own for the better part of two rounds. It would be Jason, however, that scored the deadly blow, dropping Sicilia and finishing him off with some hammerfists on the ground late in round two.
The finish was strong enough to earn Jason the UFC 153 Knockout of the Night.
Dave Herman said before the fight that Brazilian jiu-jitsu wasn’t effective against him, but Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, fighting on his home turf, proved otherwise. He took the fight to Herman every step of the way, eventually submitting him with an armbar at the 4:31 mark of round two, securing the $70,000 Submission of the Night bonus.
The UFC handed out $280,000 in UFC 153 fighter bonuses on Saturday night.
Stay tuned to MMAWeekly.com for all of your UFC 153 fight coverage.
