UFC 255 Bonuses: Buckley, Shevchenko, Palatnikov, Cosce Receive $50K

Lo noquea! @NewMansa94 con otro tremendo KO!!! #UFC255 pic.twitter.com/dZXpe4VmYu

— ufcespanol (@UFCEspanol) November 22, 2020

It probably won’t be a viral highlight, but Joaquin Buckley’s latest knockout at UFC 255 nonetheless made him $50,000 richer.

One fight removed from his “Knockout of the Year” candidate against Impa Kasanganay, Buckley received a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his second-round finish of Jordan Wright in a preliminary middleweight matchup on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Buckley rocked Wright toward the end of the first frame and his opponent was clearly still dazed at the outset of Round 2. The St. Louis native then dropped Wright with a left hook to end the bout 18 seconds into the period.

Elsewhere, Antonina Shevchenko garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award on the strength of a dominant victory against former KSW champion Ariane Lipski at flyweight. Shevchenko imposed her will on the ground throughout and ended the contest with ground-and-pound from mount 4:33 into the second frame.

Finally, Sasha Palatnikov and Louis Cosce earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their wild welterweight scrap in the evening’s opening bout. Cosce appeared to be on the verge of a finish on a couple occasions in Round 1, but when the stoppage didn’t arrive, Palatnikov took control down the stretch and finished his foe off with punches after stuffing a takedown 2:27 into Round 3.