UFC Fight Night 103 bonuses: Yair Rodriguez leads charge for extra checks with $50,000

PHOENIX – Yair Rodriguez, Aleksei Oleinik, Augusto Mendes and Frankie Saenz each earned $50,000 fight-night bonuses at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 103 event.

Rodriguez and Oleinikpicked up “Performance of the Night” awards, and Mendes and Saenz took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

UFC officials announced the winners following the event, which MMAjunkie attended.

Rodriguez (9-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) devastated UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn (16-11-2 MMA, 12-10-2 UFC), who was returning from a retirement of more than two years, for a second-round TKO in the featherweight main event. Rodriguez dominated Penn in the first half with kicks and punches and even took a 10-8 round from one judge. In the second, he struck quickly with a head kick, then followed it with bunches of punches on the ground for the TKO of a former two-division champion.

Oleinik (51-10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) made some UFC history in his heavyweight fight against Viktor Pesta (10-4 MMA, 1-4 UFC) on the FS1 prelims. He became the first fighter in the promotion’s history to finish a bout with the rarely seen Ezekiel choke – though it’s a finish he’s become known for in his native Russia.

Mendes (6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Saenz (11-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) slugged back and forth in their bantamweight fight on the FS1 prelims. In a fight that could’ve gone either way, Mendes got his first UFC win with a split decision thanks to a pair of 29-28 scores. A disappointed Saenz lost his third straight and got a 29-28 from a dissenting judge.

UFC Fight Night 103 took place at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix. The main card aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

For more on UFC Fight Night 103, check out the UFC Events section of the site.