UFC 279 BONUS: Nate Diaz Receives ‘Performance of the Night’ Award for Submitting Tony Ferguson
Performance of the night: Nate Diaz
finally paired with Tony Ferguson to headline UFC 279 after drastic change Friday . As you might expect, the two legends who took the main stage were ready for entertainment, and they both delivered. In the beginning, Diaz was on the front foot early, finding his rhythm and putting it together. Midway through the second round, Diaz slashed Ferguson’s left eye with the most devastating blow of the game, which may have given Diaz the round on the scorecard difference between the two referees. In the fourth round, after 15 minutes of sheer blows, Ferguson attempted a successful tackle and shot to tie. Diaz quickly grabbed Ferguson by the neck and locked him on the guillotine. The win makes Diaz tied for third in UFC history with 10 submissions. Plus, with 101 major strikes tonight, Diaz is ninth in UFC history with 1,544 major strikes in his UFC career.
Performance of the night: Jailton Almeida
In the last 24 hours of controversies and fight changes, Jailton Almeida is another UFC 279 athlete who fights someone on short notice . Dana White’s Contenders Series season 6 athlete Anton Turkalj stepped in at short notice to put Shamil Abdurakhimov against the Brazilian who had soared in the first two games. Almeida scored 10 seconds into the game and took control from there. Turkalj did a good job getting up a few times, but Almeida was always one step ahead and immediately dragged Turkalj back to the mat. Later in the bout, Almeida started to pound from the top position, forcing Turkalj to turn to his stomach. Almeida leaned on his back, banged on the tap, and suffocated naked. With the win, Almeida now has three consecutive first-round finishes in the UFC, second only to Sergey Pavlovic’s four. Nate Diaz slams Kamzat Chimayev in postgame interview
Performance of the night: Irena Aldana
It’s been over a year since the last fight, and Irena Aldana is fighting with Messi Chia Macy Chiasson’s game picks up where she left off. In the first round, the second game went to the mat and Aldana was in complete control. Chiasson is constantly looking for armbar submissions and needs to make all the right moves to continue to the horn. The second time, the script flipped completely. The fight was bogged down again, but Chiasson took control forcing Aldana to keep defending strikes and submission attempts. Chiasson held her on Aldana’s back, but the moment the American tried to get up and break free, a kick from Aldana hit the liver, knocking Chiasson down and finishing the game. Aldana won the third knockout fight in UFC history after Jon Fitch and Niko Price finished. This is the first of the three to target the body.
Show of the night: Johnny Walker
opens up as Johnny Walker bounces back after losing to Jamaal Hill in February to win since 2018 First submission win since joining the UFC. Just 30 seconds into the first round, Cutelaba beat Walker but couldn’t do much damage from the top position. Halfway through the round, Walker changed positions and got to work, landing vicious ground and pounding until Cutelaba was able to find his feet. Walker immediately took his opponent back, knocking him to the ground. Walker jumped on Cuteaba’s back and started looking for submissions. Cutelaba defended well, but Walker was eventually able to get into the back naked choke with just over 20 seconds in the first game.
