UFC Vegas 55 Bonus Report: Chidi Njokuani pockets $50k for nasty KO

The Octagon remained in Nevada for tonight’s UFC Vegas 55 event, an eleven-bout fight card headlined by Holly Holm vs. Ketlen Vieira.

The highly anticipated women’s bantamweight main event resulted in a back and forth twenty-five minute affair. Holly Holm found most of her success in the clinch, but even dropped Ketlen Vieira with a side kick during the fight. However, the Brazilian appeared to get off the harder blows throughout the course of the fight and that seemingly swayed two of the judges in attendance to score the bout in her favor.

The co-main event of UFC Vegas 55 featured a welterweight contest between fan favorites Michael Pereira and Santiago Ponzinibbio. The bout proved to be a thrilling back and forth affair. Michael Pereira got off to a strong start in the opening round but Santiago Ponzinibbio stormed back in round two. The third and final five minutes was an all out brawl but did not conclude in a finish. Thus we went to the judges scorecards for decision.

Following the conclusion of tonight’s event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that four fighters would be taking home performance bonuses.

Fight of the night: Welterweight fighters Michel Pereira and Santiago Ponzinibbio earned fight of the night honors for their thrilling war in tonight’s UFC Vegas 55 co-main event. Pereira won the fight by split decision.

Performance of the night: Chidi Njokuani pocketed an extra $50k for his brutal first round knockout victory over Dusko Todorovic. Njokuani landed a nasty standing elbow in the final seconds of round one which sent Dusko crashing to the canvas (see that here).

Performance of the night: Chase Hooper earned an extra $50k for his third round TKO victory over Felipe Colares on today’s early prelims.

Are you surprised by any of the performance bonuses handed out by Dana White and company following the conclusion of today’s UFC Vegas 55 event?