The Octagon returned to Rio de Janeiro for tonight’s UFC 301 event, a thirteen-bout fight card headlined by Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg.
The highly anticipated men’s flyweight title fight resulted in a thrilling five-round war. Alexandre Pantoja got off to a hot start in round one, but the second round proved to be highly competitive. Round three appeared to be in favor of the Brazilian, but the Aussie stormed back to easily take-home round four. It was the fifth and final round the Pantoja was able to dig deep and seemingly come out ahead on all three of the judges’ scorecards thanks to a late takedown and ground & pound.
UFC 301 was co-headlined by a bantamweight bout between former featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo and streaking contender Jonathan Martinez. The contest proved to be a one-sided affair. Jose Aldo was able to utilize his tremendous boxing skills to overwhelm Jonathan Martinez throughout their three-round fight, hurting ‘The Dragon’ with a big left hook in the third round. After fifteen minutes of action, ‘The King of Rio’ was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
Following the conclusion of tonight’s event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that four fighters would be taking home performance bonuses.
Performance of the night UFC 301: Michel Pereira earned an extra $50k for his first-round submission victory over Ihor Potieria on tonight’s UFC 301 main card.
Performance of the night UFC 301: Caio Borralho pocketed an extra $50k for his second-round knockout victory over Paul Craig.
Performance of the night UFC 301: Mauricio Ruffy earned an extra $50k for his first-round TKO victory over Jamie Mullarkey.
Performance of the night UFC 301: Alessandro Costa pocketed an extra $50k for his second-round TKO victory over Kevin Borjas.