Yet another UFC Fight Night event has come to an end with some stunning performances with the likes of Jared Cannonier and Caio Barralho elevating their status. And all of this happens, because at the end of the night, all the fighters want to know is if they won the Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night Bonuses. This time around, the choices were pretty simple.
Along with Cannonier and Barralho, Gerald Meerschaert, and Michael Morales also bagged $50k. But that wasn’t all that happened.
Michael Morales was an overwhelming favorite going into his fight against Neil Magny and it was quickly revealed why. In the very first round of the fight, he dropped his opponent and executed some vicious ground and pound to put a stop to the contest before whipping out a Spiderman celebration.
BIG finishes deserve BIG bonuses @The_Real_GM3 and Michael Morales take home the #UFCVegas96 POTN honors!
[ B2YB @ThorneHealth ] pic.twitter.com/GLKR1dlUOy
— UFC (@ufc) August 25, 2024
Also on the list was Gerald Meerschaert who had a very different experience. The American got dropped by his opponent and almost lost the fight before taking down his opponent and mounting a vicious counter attack to finish the fight.
He brought the fight to the ground and ended up submitting his opponent to break Anderson Silva’s record for most finishes in the middleweight division and become the second POTN fighter at UFC Vegas 96.
Cannonier and Borralho for Fight of The Night
The Fight of the Night deservedly went to the main event of the evening as a resilient Jared Canonier took on the rising star Caio Borralho.
The fight did not disappoint as both fighters went toe to toe for five whole rounds and left it all inside the octagon. Unfortunately for Cannonier his opponent did too much damage to win via points.
The Brazilian ended up securing the decision victory over Cannonier and securing the biggest victory of his career so far. As a cherry on top, he also won $50k for his performance in the main event.
An absolute WAR to the very end
Jared Cannonier vs @BorralhoCaio is the #UFCVegas96 FOTN!
[ B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/Gvh3uUKkpr
— UFC (@ufc) August 25, 2024
Both fighters embraced each other after the fight knowing full well they had put on the performances of their life. What was thoroughly impressive was to see how tough ‘The Killa Gorilla’ was.
Bruh…#UFCVegas96 pic.twitter.com/POqnGmRnp4
— Fury’s Fight Picks (@LucaFury) August 25, 2024
Despite taking significant damage from his opponent, and at one point having blood shoot out of his nose from a punch, Cannonier did not go down, and he did not give up.
The sheer resilience in the face of unsurmountable violence was sight to behold for all those in attendance as many streaming the event have already dubbed it one of the best fights in recent memory earning it the title of the Fight of the Night. And despite his loss, Cannonier’s heart and resilience also got him awarded $50k as POTN.
