UFC 165 Bonuses: Jones, Gustafsson, Barao, Gagnon Pocket $50,000 Awards
Mitch Gagnon’s early submission earned him an extra $50,000. |
Brian Townsend/Sherdog.com
Four fighters walked away from UFC 165 with post-fight bonuses in hand, as Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, Renan Barao and Mitch Gagnon each pocketed an extra $50,000.
Jones and Gustafsson were awarded “Fight of the Night” for their outstanding, five-round light heavyweight title headliner, while interim bantamweight champ Barao picked up “Knockout of the Night” honors after disposing of challenger Eddie Wineland in the co-main event. Gagnon secured “Submission of the Night” with a slick guillotine choke, putting Dustin Kimura to sleep in their bantamweight encounter.
UFC 165 took place at Air Canada Centre in Toronto and aired live on pay-per-view. Jones retained his light heavyweight title in a thrilling main event, edging a game Gustafsson on scores of 48-47 (twice) and 49-46. The bloody, back-and-forth affair marked the sixth consecutive title defense for “Bones,” who now holds the UFC light heavyweight record after surpassing the mark set by Tito Ortiz.
Just prior, Barao scored a spectacular stoppage of Wineland, though the former World Extreme Cagefighting champion held his own in the first round against the powerful Brazilian. The fight would change dramatically in round two, however, as Barao connected with a spinning back kick to Wineland’s cheekbone that floored the challenger and left him exposed to Barao’s fight-ending ground-and-pound.
On the preliminary card, Gagnon and Kimura battled hard for most of the first round, with the Canadian landing cleanly before finding himself hurt by a vicious left hook to his liver. Kimura rushed his wounded man, but Gagnon responded with a takedown and later choked his foe unconscious with a tight guillotine choke.
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