UFC 211 Bonuses: Miocic, Knight, Sherman, Coulter Pocket $50K Awards

Stipe Miocic didn’t have to work nearly as long for his $50,000 bonus against Junior dos Santos this time around.

The heavyweight champion earned a “Performance of the Night” award for his first-round technical knockout stoppage of dos Santos in the UFC 211 headliner at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Saturday night. Miocic backed his foe into the fence, dropped him with a right hand and finished the contest with a series of follow-up ground strikes 2:22 into the frame. Previously, Miocic and dos Santos garnered “Fight of the Night” honors for a five-round battle at UFC on Fox 13, a bout which JDS won via unanimous decision in December 2014.

Elsewhere, surging prospect Jason Knight pocketed the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his stoppage of Chas Skelly in a preliminary featherweight encounter. The Mississippi native dazed Skelly with a stepping uppercut during an exchange in the third round and swarmed from there, finishing the bout with elbows and punches on the ground 39 seconds into the period.

Finally, Chase Sherman and Rashad Coulter received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their preliminary heavyweight scrap. Sherman battered his foe with leg kicks in the opening stanza and dropped him with a right hand in round two. Coulter rallied to briefly stagger Sherman with power punches upstairs before Sherman ended the contest abruptly with a standing elbow at the 3:36 mark of the second frame.