UFC 143 Bonuses: Werdum, Nelson, Thompson, Poirier Bag $65K
Four fighters walked away from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in
Las Vegas with post-fight bonuses on Saturday night, as Fabricio
Werdum, Roy Nelson,
Stephen
Thompson and Dustin
Poirier each took home an additional $65,000 at UFC
143.
Thompson and Poirier were awarded “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night,” respectively, while Werdum (Pictured, file photo) and Nelson earned “Fight of the Night” for their three-round heavyweight affair.
Werdum dominated Nelson in the early going, showing much-improved standup and delivering a great deal of damage to the IFL veteran. The Brazilian locked up a Thai plum on a variety of occasions, blasting Nelson with knees to the body and face that badly lacerated his opponent. Though Nelson showed great heart and toughness to survive, the night belonged to Werdum, as he took home a unanimous decision after 15 minutes of competition.
A decorated karate and kickboxing stylist, Thompson made quite an impression in his UFC debut, leveling fellow Octagon newcomer Dan Stittgen with a beautiful right round kick to the jaw. Stittgen, a grappling specialist, had trouble dealing with the kenpo black belt’s use of distance in the early going. Thompson followed a one-two punch combination with the sneaky head kick as the round wore down, turning out Stittgen’s lights at 4:13 of the opening stanza.
Though “The Diamond” appeared to struggle with the range of lanky UFC debutant Max Holloway, Poirier closed the distance and brought the fight to the floor midway through the opening frame. While Holloway managed to slide out from under his opponent’s mount, Poirier locked onto an arm and began to torque, eventually switching to a triangle choke. The hold cinched in, Poirier rolled into a mounted triangle and cranked viciously on Holloway’s exposed arm, forcing the tap.
Thompson and Poirier were awarded “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night,” respectively, while Werdum (Pictured, file photo) and Nelson earned “Fight of the Night” for their three-round heavyweight affair.
Werdum dominated Nelson in the early going, showing much-improved standup and delivering a great deal of damage to the IFL veteran. The Brazilian locked up a Thai plum on a variety of occasions, blasting Nelson with knees to the body and face that badly lacerated his opponent. Though Nelson showed great heart and toughness to survive, the night belonged to Werdum, as he took home a unanimous decision after 15 minutes of competition.
A decorated karate and kickboxing stylist, Thompson made quite an impression in his UFC debut, leveling fellow Octagon newcomer Dan Stittgen with a beautiful right round kick to the jaw. Stittgen, a grappling specialist, had trouble dealing with the kenpo black belt’s use of distance in the early going. Thompson followed a one-two punch combination with the sneaky head kick as the round wore down, turning out Stittgen’s lights at 4:13 of the opening stanza.
Though “The Diamond” appeared to struggle with the range of lanky UFC debutant Max Holloway, Poirier closed the distance and brought the fight to the floor midway through the opening frame. While Holloway managed to slide out from under his opponent’s mount, Poirier locked onto an arm and began to torque, eventually switching to a triangle choke. The hold cinched in, Poirier rolled into a mounted triangle and cranked viciously on Holloway’s exposed arm, forcing the tap.
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