UFC President Dana White announced the six winners of the fight bonuses in the amount of $75,000 each for the most impressive performances at UFC 116 in the post-fight press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. July 3: Gerald Harris, Brock Lesnar, Stephan Bonnar, Krzysztof Soszynski, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama
Knockout of the Night
Harris impressed with his body slam of David Branch at 2:35 in round three. Branch was rendered unconscious when he landed flat on his back, most likely due to collapsed lungs that resulted in respiratory failure. Fight Magazine stated on Twitter that 'Harris has the best slam KO since Frank Shamrock broke Igor Zinoviev's clavicle at UFC 16 in 1998.' It remains to be seen what further damage on Branch the Nevada State Athletic Commission will find during the post-fight physical.
Submission of the Night
Lesnar's submission of Carwin in round two was shocking and impressive to equal proportions. Not only did Lesnar come back after a severe beating from Carwin in round one, but he managed to choke him with only one arm across his throat (arm triangle choke) while he pinned him to the mat from side control in round two. This feat alone might earn him the Comeback Fighter of the Year award for this year as he already won the Breakthrough Fighter of the Year award in 2009 from Fighters Only magazine.
Fight of the Night
White must have felt especially generous last night after his golden boy, Lesnar, defeated Carwin to keep his title. Instead of giving out one Fight of the Night bonus he gave out two which means four fighters (Bonnar, Soszynski, Leben, Akiyama) all earned a hefty $75,000 each in addition to their fight purses.
Bonnar kept his promise of delivering an all out 'slam-bam-don't-give-a-damn' kind of fight that reminded of his infamous TUF finale against Forrest Griffin. But Krzysztof Soszynski could not keep up with an almost blind and wildly swinging Bonnar. The referee stopped the fight at 3:08 in round three and awarded Bonnar the win via TKO.
Leben and 'Sexy' Akiyama went toe to toe for almost three entire rounds before Leben closed the deal literally in the nick of time at 4:40 in round three with a submission win (triangle choke). Considering that Leben's last fight (and win) prior to last night was only two weeks ago against Aaron Simpson at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale it was amazing that he turned out to have the better stamina of the two.
- Click here for complete UFC 116 fight results.
- Click here to see the medical suspensions after UFC 116.
- Click here for entire UFC 116 coverage.
- Click here to see more articles on Brock Lesnar.
Comments
Awesome night of fights!
Credit to Leben for coming back to the action only two weeks after his last fight. On the other hand he had a better momentum than Akiyama whose last appearance was at UFC 100 last year (ring rust?)
'slam-bam-don't-give-a-damn' Haha! Exactly that! I don't know how Bonnar was seeing where to hit in the third round.
You got that right, G! And Akiyama was just too sexy, you know. LOL. His sexiness clearly wore him out. ;-)
This fight had a great knockout, but it wasn't the slam that did it. It was the forearm on the throat slamming into the mat that knocked him out.
Lytle should have gotten submission of the night,he had 2 different subs on Brown at the same time!
Excellent point, Mike. And I have to agree. I guess White picked Brock because it was so unexpected to see him submit Carwin after almost being KOd in round one. Besides, Brock is not known for his submission skills. But at the end of the day we all have to admit that Brock is White's golden goose and he treats him accordingly.
Hats off to Lytle though!!! He showed amazing skills.
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