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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Four fighters earned $10,000 bonuses for their performances on Thursday's WEC 53 card from the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz.. It was announced at the post-fight press conference that preliminary card fighters Shane Roller and Eddie Wineland, as well as the night's main event competitors Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson, were the recipient's of the event's "Fight Night" awards.
Wineland earned the night's "Knockout of the Night" award for his slam of Ken Stone on the night's preliminary card. The finish was reportedly a scary scene, as Stone was brought out of the cage in a stretcher, but reports from the hospital indicated that he was alright.
Roller earned the "Submission of the Night" for his first round submission of Jamie Varner on the preliminary card. He scored a takedown late in the first round and finished the fight by rear naked choke.
Henderson and Pettis earned "Fight of the Night" honors with their fantastic five round bout that saw Pettis crowned the final WEC Lightweight Champion in the organization's history. The bout saw Pettis pull off one of the most electrifying moves ever seen in MMA with his spring-board kick that connected and dropped Henderson in the fifth round.
Penick's Analysis: While the WEC events will be missed, this illustrates why the merger with the UFC is a good thing. Pettis-Henderson was better than any fight on last weekend's UFC 124 event, and yet those fights were eligible for $100,000 bonuses. Pettis, with that "Showtime Kick," deserves more than just a $10,000 bonus. He'll get a chance for much, much more than that when he faces the winner of the UFC Lightweight Championship from UFC 125 in early 2011.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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