Fight-Night bonuses in the amount of $75,000 were awarded to Bart Palaszewski, Donald Cerrone, Nick Diaz, and B.J. Penn at tonight’s UFC 137 event.
Bart Palaszewski made a huge statement in his stunning first-round knockout of Tyson Griffin. Palaszewski started the assault with a couple of left hands that sent Griffin into the cage. Once there, Palaszewski unleashed a barrage of punches punctuated by a brutal right hook that sent Griffin crashing to the canvas. The performance earned him “Knockout of the Night” honors.
Donald Cerrone kept his hot streak going with a dominating performance, as he decimated Dennis Siver on the feet before finishing him on the ground. Cerrone gave Siver a taste of his own medicine, staggering the lightweight contender with a kick that was pure shin-to-chin. Cerrone then transitioned to the back of Siver and quickly cinched up the fight-ending rear naked choke, earning the “Submission of the Night” award.
As expected, the main event proved to be the “Fight of the Night” and was a slug-fest as Nick Diaz punished B.J. Penn en route to a unanimous decision victory. Penn got the best of the exchanges in the first, but Diaz dominated the final two rounds as he found his range, keeping Penn mostly on the cage and delivering a brutal barrage of strikes to the body and head. The battered and bloodied Penn admitted to Joe Rogan after the fight that he would be retiring.