UFC 295 emerged as one of the standout events of the year, with its top performers receiving apt remuneration. The event was hosted by the Las Vegas-based promotion at Madison Square Garden in New York. This memorable event saw seven $50,000 bonuses being handed out post Saturday’s card. Out of these, five main card fighters were graced with “Performance of the Night” accolades – these included Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall, Jessica Andrade, Benoit St. Denis and Diego Lopes.
In one of the highlights of the evening, Pereira wrote his name in the annals of the promotion’s history by becoming the ninth two-division champion. This impressive feat was achieved following his second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka in the light heavyweight headliner. Aspinall, on the other hand, pulled off an upset by claiming the interim heavyweight gold. This came as a result of his 69-second thrashing of Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event.
Earlier in the night, Andrade set an impressive UFC women’s record by scoring four knockdowns in a second-round stoppage of Mackenzie Dern in a particularly watched strawweight match. Meanwhile, St. Denis continued his victorious streak and secured his fifth consecutive finish by laying out Matt Frevola with a head-kick KO. The curtain-raiser of the main card saw Diego Lopes emerging victorious with a knockout of Pat Sabatini just 90 seconds into the match. The preliminary lightweight bout between Viacheslav Borschev and Nazim Sadykhov ended in a majority draw but earned both the fighters “Fight of the Night” accolades, with each of them taking home $50,000.