MMA Weekly
Carla Esparza earns UFC Vegas 27 bonus for finishing Yan Xiaonan
Carla Esparza, Bruno Silva, Justin Tafa and Jared Vanderaa all came away from UFC Vegas 27 with $50,000 performance bonuses for their work at UFC Vegas 27. Vanderaa and Tafa were awarded Fight of the Night bonuses for their heavyweight slugfest, while Esparza and Silva were awarded for their TKO victories over Yan Xiaonan and Victor Rodriguez, respectively. Esparza captured her performance of the night bonus after she stopped Yan Xiaonan in the second round of their strawweight co-main event. Esparza dominated Xiaonan with her wrestling prowess throughout the vast majority of the fight before stopping Xiaonan with unanswered strikes in the crucifix position that ultimately led to the referee stopping the fight. Tafa and Vanderaa captured their fight of the night bonuses after a heavyweight bloodbath. Vanderaa decisively outstruck Tafa all three rounds but was shaken by counters and bombs thrown by Tafa, especially in the second round. Although it was a great back and forth stand up brawl, Vanderaa certainly did enough to take the decision victory. Paul Felder retires from MMA during UFC Vegas 27 broadcast Truly, there is not much to say about Silva’s performance, but not because of a lack of skill, the fight only lasted one minute. Silva hit his opponent Victor Rodriguez with a big right hand and followed up with a knee in the clinch that visibly wobbled Rodriguez. Silva followed up with another right hand that dropped his opponent, and it only took two seconds of ground and pound and 60 seconds total before the referee saw enough. UFC Vegas 27 took place on Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. No. 3 ranked bantamweight Rob Font put on a striking clinic against former champion and no. 4 ranked Cody Garbrandt in the fight card’s main event. After five rounds of fighting, all three judges scored the fight for Font by unanimous decision.