UFC Fight Night 91 bonuses: Ferguson-Vannata named Fight of the Night

Just days after the landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view card, UFC Fight Night 91 went down from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Very few people appeared to know of the card, never mind watch and care about it. But anyone who didn’t bother spending their Wednesday night in front of their television watching the card missed out. Headlined by a bantamweight contender fight between John Lineker and Michael McDonald, the promotion’s debut in Sioux Falls was thrilling top to bottom and full of finishes.

As always, UFC officials handed out four post-fight bonuses — two for Performance of the Night and two for Fight of the Night — worth $50,000 each following the event (confirmed to MMAjunkie.com):

John Lineker: Lineker was rewarded the first Performance of the Night bonus. He headlined the card against former title challenger Michael McDonald and put away the 25-year-old with an early flurry of bombs. The Brazilian’s performance was essentially perfect, therefore he absolutely deserved an extra paycheck for his knockout victory.

Louis Smolka: Smolka kicked off the six-fight main card with a stunning second-round finish over Ben Nguyen. Smolka had some troubles early on — Nguyen landed top position very quickly — but dominated the second half of the first round. The Hawaiian showed off his massive grappling advantage, especially in the second round, but ended up pounding out the Sioux Falls-native for the TKO victory.

Tony Ferguson and Landon Vannata: Ferguson and Vannata threw down for the first five minutes, creating a “Round of the Year” candidate. Vannata brought it to the top lightweight on short notice despite most believing he was a lamb being led to slaughter. He even knocked Ferguson down in the first round, and came pretty close to a huge win in his UFC debut. But, at the end of the day, it was “El Cucuy” who took over in the second round and secured a d’arce choke win.