UFC 179 post-fight bonuses: Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes pocket ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for thriller

Following a three-week hiatus, MMA's top promotion returned to action with the first PPV event in the Brazil since August 2013. The event, which…

By: Karim Zidan | 9 years ago
UFC 179 post-fight bonuses: Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes pocket ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for thriller
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Following a three-week hiatus, MMA’s top promotion returned to action with the first PPV event in the Brazil since August 2013. The event, which featured a highly anticipated title fight rematch between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, was a typical Brazilian fight card – it featured a wide array of slick submissions and vicious knockouts to send the crowd home satisfied.

On a fight card deemed top-heavy, featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes produced an easy ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate in their main event match-up. The contest was enthralling from the get-go and featured a wide range of momentum shifts and interesting incidents to keep the action compelling.

Mendes produced a far better showing than his first fight against Aldo, and pressured the champ while peppering him with various combinations on the feet. Aldo, however, managed to weather the early storm and take command of the fight soon afterwards. While Mendes had several more flurries later on in the fight, he was unable to turn the tide in his favour and ultimately lost a unanimous decision.

In one of the feature fights of the evening, Fabio Maldonado rallied back from a disappointing opening round to defeat Hans Stringer via TKO. The finish came midway through the second round via vicious ground and pound.

Gilbert Burns maintained his undefeated professional record and extended his UFC streak to 2-0 with a late opening round submission victory over Christos Giagos. His arm-bar finish earns him an extra $50,000 pay check.

Performance of the Night: Fabio Maldonado, Gilbert Burns

Fight of the Night: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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