Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 124 card in St. Louis took some significant losses in the final 48 hours prior to the event, but still managed to deliver some big performances that netted $50,000 post-fight bonuses.
The UFC St. Louis event lost Vitor Belfort’s retirement fight on Saturday when Uriah Hall was unable to make weight, and also lost Zak Cummings vs. Thiago Alves on Friday because of an injury to Cummings.
The main event between Jeremy Stephens and Dooho Choi, however, was everything that fans expected. Choi looked sharp in the opening round, stinging Stephens with his jab and leg kicks in the early going and snapping his head back to open the second round.
Stephens then got fired up, found his shots and ended up dropping “The Korean Superboy” to the canvas, where he pummeled him until the referee stopped the fight.
It was a short, but exciting fight that earned them Fight of the Night honors, with each fighter taking home a $50,000 bonus check for his efforts.
In addition to a main event that punctuated the evening, Darren Elkins lived up to his reputation for making miraculous comebacks.
Michael Johnson had been lighting Elkins up in the first round of their fight, stuffing all of his takedown attempts, and ripping him with blistering combinations. The fight looked like it might continue going in that direction as the second round opened with Johnson immediately throwing hands, but Elkins finally secured a takedown, which led to his fight-ending rear-naked choke and a Performance of the Night bonus.
The second Performance of the Night bonus went to Marco Polo Reyes, who ended Matt Frevola’s night with a blistering knockout 60 seconds into their bout.
- Fight of the Night: Jeremy Stephens vs. Dooho Choi
- Performance of the Night: Darren Elkins
- Performance of the Night: Marco Polo Reyes
