Expect to hear a lot about Lone’er Kavanagh in the coming days.
And expect to hear his UFC Mexico City Main Event victory over Brandon Moreno, dubbed an Upset of the Year candidate. Because that’s exactly what it was.
A two-time former UFC flyweight champion, England’s Kavanagh, 26, locked horns with Moreno and headed into enemy territory in Mexico. If we’re being honest, Kavanagh was only on the card because the UFC simply didn’t want to host a show in Mexico without Moreno, the face of MMA in the country. With Asu Almabayev injured, they scrambled. Kavanagh, with just three UFC fights to his name, raised his hand.
Because we had made a loss, it was difficult to sell. Then Kavanagh came out and fought a clever game plan, taking away Moreno’s legs. He hit him on the feet with the blow.
It was all enough to earn Lone’er one of two Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Mexico City, even if the fight went a long way. The other went to Imanol Rodriguez, who knocked out Kevin Borjas in a shootout after being knocked down himself in the opening round.
Fight of the Night at UFC Mexico City went to Regina Tarin vs. Ernesta Kareckaite. Tarin jumped into the fight on just three days notice, but fought at home and wound up at an undefeated flyweight. She still came out perfect, improving to 8-0 in a back-and-forth affair.
All four bonus winners will earn $100,000. The night’s other finishers will earn $25,000 each in finishing bonuses. They are Damian Pinas, Francis Marshall, Javier Reyes, Ryan Ganda and King Green.
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