The Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil, was home to a fun night of fights, with four (T)KOs, three submissions, and five decisions, including a majority draw. Here’s our breakdown of the bonus-winning performances.
Performances of the Night: Edson Barboza, Kelvin Gastelum, Michel Prazeres and Paulo Borrachinha
Beneil Dariush spent the first eight and a half minutes of this fight proving he was a technical match for Edson Barboza on the feet. Then, at eight minutes and thirty five seconds, Barboza proved technical prowess is countered by a ridiculous flying knee, and knocked Dariush out cold. The Brazilian knockout artist picked up another win and a $50,000 bonus.
Kelvin Gastelum came into tonight’s event as the largest favorite on the card, and he showed why when he knocked Vitor Belfort out several times in one fight. The bout only lasted for three minutes and fifty two seconds, but that was enough time for Gastelum to drop Belfort twice and secure the finish along with a $50k bonus.
Michel Prazeres took on 43-fight veteran Josh Burkman and just assassinated him. The fight lasted one minute and 42 seconds, and for all 102 seconds of that, Burkman was either being punched, staggering from recently being punched, or being actively choked out. It was an impressive performance from Prazeres, and Burkman appeared to declare an end to his impressive and storied career when he left his gloves in the cage after the fight, however he later told reporters he wasn’t sure if he was ready to call his MMA career quits. Prazeres earned an extra $50,000 for his efforts.
Paulo Borrachinha opened the card by blitzing Garreth McLellan in under 90 seconds, blasting the South African with a brutal body kick-left hand combo that led to the swift finish and 50 Gs, baby!
Fight of the Night: None, nada, zilch, zero, zip.
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