‘UFC on FOX 9′ $50K Bonus Winners: Barboza/Castillo, Faber and Johnson

Submission of the Night: Urijah Faber
Faber’s striking was as crisp as it has ever been and he stayed on his toes which allowed him to counter most of Michael McDonald’s strikes. Faber stunned McDonald with a big right hand to the temple and dropped him after connecting with two more brutal shots. McDonald planted his hands on the mat which left his neck exposed and Faber jumped on it right away. Faber forced McDonald to submit after locking in the guillotine choke. “The California Kid” performed well in front of his home-town crowd tonight and cemented his legacy as one of the best fighters in the UFC that isn’t holding a championship. He’s looking to change that after tonight’s impressive victory.

Knockout of the Night: Demetrious Johnson
If this fight were to be awarded the ‘KOTN’ bonus, almost nobody would have assumed it would go to Demetrious Johnson. His UFC Flyweight Championship bout against Joseph Benavidez opened up evenly with both fighters utilizing their strong points. Johnson relied heavily on his speed to avoid the power strikes that Benavidez was swinging. Johnson saw an opening and landed a massive right hand in the first round that sent Benavidez crashing to the mat. He was out before his head bounced off the canvas but Johnson didn’t want to leave anything to chance. Johnson jumped on the challenger and punched him four more times before the referee peeled him off.

Fight of the Night: Edson Barboza vs. Danny Castillo
Barboza and Castillo stole the show in the preliminaries. Castillo rocked Barboza with a right hook that made him fall to the ground and would eventually lead to a rear naked choke attempt from Castillo. It looked as if Barboza grabbed on to the fence and it actually aided his escape. The situation would go on to repeat itself moments later and this allowed Barboza to escape the first round. With the first round being a possible 10-8 in Castillo’s favor, Barboza turned up the heat and started getting more comfortable throwing down. He connected exotic kick after exotic kick, sending Castillo flying to the other side of the cage multiple times. When all was said and done, Barboza earned himself the decision victory by dominating the second and third rounds.