The UFC announced the bonuses for “Fight of the Night”, and for “Knockout of the Night” at the post press conference following Saturday night’s “UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II” event held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The bonuses for tonight’s fighters were $65,000, and were issued to John Howard, Chris Wilson, Clay Guida, and Nate Diaz for co-Fight of the Night honors, while Lyoto Machida earned every cent of his 65K with his utter destruction and KO of the previously unbeaten Thiago Silva.
“UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II” started off with all of the undercard fights ending in decision. The Chris Wilson vs. John Howard fight was selected as “Fight of the Night” from the undercard but would share the honors with Clay Guida and Nate Diaz.
As the first fight on the main card, Guida and Diaz added to the streak of decisions with a battle of wills that resulted in Guida earning a hard fought split decision victory over Nate Diaz.
Lyoto Machida made a strong argument to the UFC brass that he is the one that deserves the next shot at Rashad Evan’s Light Heavyweight title, with his devastating knockout of Thiago Silva as the bell sounded at the end of Round 1. Silva is more known for his aggression and KO power, but it was Machida that systematically picked Silva apart and earning the “Knockout of the Night” bonus.
With 8 of the 10 fights going to decision, and with no fights ending by submission, for the second UFC event in a row, no “Submission of the Night” bonus was awarded.