UFC lightweight Chris Padilla pleaded for a $50,000 bonus last night, but narrowly missed out despite a brutal stoppage.
The exciting California native landed his second stoppage in the UFC as he left Chinese fighter Rongzhu with a gruesome eye injury that forced doctors to stop the fight. However, it wasn’t enough to impress bosses and earn him a performance bonus.
Padilla arrived in the promotion earlier this year as he submitted James Llontop in an upset victory after three victories on the regional circuit. But neither of his underdog wins have been enough to land him a bonus check from the promotion.
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Chris Padilla lands gruesome stoppage on Ronghzu to earn second UFC win
Chinese prospect Rongzhu returned to MMA’s top promotion after three wins on Road to UFC followed a victory at UAE Warriors when he was released in 2022. His previous stint had seen him lose twice, with his sole victory coming after he had missed weight.
With that in mind, he took on regional circuit veteran Chris Padilla in his return to the octagon. The pair shared a close first round, which one judge felt Rongzhu had done enough to win, but the second was to prove brutal.
Padilla landed a flush elbow that caused Rongzhu’s eye to balloon almost instantly, causing doctors to step in. When the true gruesome nature of the injury was revealed, referee Kerry Hatley was forced to stop the fight immediately.
Chris Padilla demands bonus after sickening sophomore UFC victory
Following his win, Padilla made his case for a $50,000 performance bonus from the promotion, as is customary for the most impressive wins at any given event. The win was one of just two KO or TKO stoppages on the night, and a vicious way for the lightweight to win.
” I think I’m worth $50k, man,” he asked the media in attendance during his post-fight press conference last night. “I know the first one was like ‘ehhhh, maybe’, but who’s doing it like that, man? Who’s splitting someone with an elbow, swelling their eye up?
“And that’s why in the cage I was saying ‘No mas’, because he was saying ‘eye poke, eye poke’, come on, boy! I eye poked you with an elbow, I don’t got fingers on my elbows. You know that s*** smushed your eye.
“That’s why I was like ‘ah I must kill you now’ and when they called the [doctor] in I was like ‘he don’t want no more’. This is no disrespect to him because I think I really smushed his eye, personally. I felt that b**** mush, excuse my language.
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Unfortunately for Padilla, his calls fell upon deaf ears as he lost out on the bonuses to featherweight Steve Garcia and flyweight Cody Durden. There was also a Fight of the Night bonus given to co-main event stars Jessica Andrade and Natalia Silva who put on a barnburner in their clash.
Durden had stepped up on short notice to face promotional veteran Matt Schnell in their meeting, and landed a submission with an anaconda choke in the second. It was enough of a victory to force his opponent into retirement, as he emotionally left his gloves in the cage.
Meanwhile, Garcia stopped Canadian Kyle Nelson with what was the only clean KO or TKO of the night in the opening round.