UFC 165 bonuses: Jones, Gustafsson, Barao, Gagnon earn $50,000 honors

TORONTO – Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, Renan Barao and Mitch Gagnon each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 165 event.

Jones and Gustafsson earned the “Fight of the Night” award, Barao won “Knockout of the Night” and Gagnon picked up “Submission of the Night” honors. The fighters honored fought in the top-three billed bouts on the card.

UFC officials announced the winners at the night’s post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) attended.

UFC 165 took place at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) and Gustafsson (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) put on what may have been a fight for the ages. For 25 minutes, the two light heavyweights traded punches and kicks, elbows and knees. But in the end, Jones retained his light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision, getting a 49-46 and two 48-47s in a fight that was probably even closer than that. Gustafsson cut Jones open in the first round, and that cut seemed to be an issue for the champ all fight. But in the late rounds, Jones turned things up a notch when it counted in a fight that likely will be lauded as one of the most competitive title bouts in UFC history.

Barao (31-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) landed a spinning back kick to the face to knock out Eddie Wineland (20-9-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) in the second round of their interim bantamweight title fight. The first round was close, with Wineland stopping Barao’s takedown attempts and matching him in the striking department. But quickly in the second, Barao got the kick through, dropped Wineland and then finished him on the ground.

Gagnon (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) stopped Dustin Kimura (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with a guillotine choke in the first round of their preliminary card fight after blasting him with punches. Gagnon returned after knee surgery that kept him out for a year.

For complete coverage of UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Brendan Schaub)