Israel Adesanya is back atop the middleweight mountain and back on the bonus list.
“The Last Stylebender” earned a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus with his stunning knockout of Alex Pereira in Saturday’s UFC 287 main event, a victory that not only won him back the UFC title but avenged his first loss inside the octagon. This was also Adesanya’s first win over Pereira after losing to him in their first MMA fight and two previous kickboxing encounters.
After a competitive first round, Adesanya caught an advancing Pereira with two hard right hands that put “Poatan” down on the mat for good. Adesanya scored a knockout win for the first time since defeating Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September 2020, which is also the last time he received a post-fight bonus.
The other Performance of the Night award went to Rob Font, who scored a first-round TKO of Adrian Yanez to hand the fast-rising Yanez his first UFC loss.
Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Curtis won the UFC 287 Fight of the Night award for their thrilling three-round striking battle, which closed out the preliminary portion of the card. Returning from a hiatus of almost 600 days, Gastelum outworked Curtis to earn a unanimous decision and the fourth Fight of the Night bonus of his UFC career.