There were a couple fights on the UFC 195 card that made compelling cases for a “Fight of the Night” bonus on Saturday night, with both Dustin Poirier vs. Joseph Duffy and Lorenz Larkin vs. Albert Tumenov standing out as legitimate options. However, there was no denying the greatness that was Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit in the main event, and the two welterweight warriors were given that award at the end of the night.
Stipe Miocic and Michael McDonald picked up the other two $50,000 bonuses for their respective “Performance of the Night” efforts.
The main event between Lawler and Condit was an absolute war, with Condit landing nearly 200 of an astonishing 500+ strikes thrown throughout the bout, while Lawler did significant damage particularly in the insane fifth round. Lawler managed to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship by edging out a significantly contentious split decision from the judges, but the fight itself set the bar high immediately in the “Fight of the Year” conversation for 2016.
Miocic earned his bonus, and perhaps his much desired title shot, with a 54 second TKO over Andrei Arlovski in the co-main event. The 33-year-old cracked Arlovski with a right hand behind the ear early that wobbled him badly, and followed up with a relentless attack to finish him off.
McDonald went from nearly being on the wrong end of a performance of the night to winning one himself in one rapid sequence in the second round against Masanori Kanehara. Kanehara had taken him down and gotten into mount, and passed over to side control with a tight arm triangle choke attempt that seemed to be the end. Suddenly, McDonald jerked to his side, threw his legs over Kanehara’s back, and exploded free from the hold, immediately locking up a rear naked choke and forcing the tap himself.
[Photo (c) Joshua Dahl via USA Today Sports]
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