Poirier and Pettis received “Fight of the Night” honors for their bloody lightweight clash in Saturday’s headliner at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va. The contest saw spirited exchanges on the feet as well as scrambles and transitions on the mat. Poirier busted Pettis open with elbows on the ground before trapping the former lightweight king in a body triangle in the third frame. Moments later, Pettis was forced to tap out due to a rib injury as Poirier rolled into full mount.
Elsewhere, Matt Brown garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for a brutal first-round knockout of Diego Sanchez at welterweight. Brown caught a Sanchez kick and walked “The Nightmare” back to the fence. Moments later, he unloaded with an elbow that knocked his opponent out cold at the 3:44 mark.
Finally, Raphael Assuncao pocketed the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his knockout of Matthew Lopez in a featured bantamweight clash. In round three, Assuncao launched himself at Lopez with a flying knee near the fence. While that didn’t land, an ensuing left hand did, knocking out Lopez 1:50 into round three.