UFC 203 Fighter Bonuses: Stipe Miocic Retains Belt and Bags Bonus | MMAWeekly.com

The Ultimate Fighting Championship held its first event in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday with UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem. Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic retained his title in the main event by knocking out Alistair Overeem and took home a bonus for his efforts. Other performance-based bonus winners included Overeem, Jessica Andrade, and Yancy Medeiros.

Fight of the Night honors went to the main event. Overeem dropped Miocic early in the opening round, but was unable to finish the champion. Miocic battled back and hurt Overeem with punches. He had “The Reem” on wobbly legs, but the challenge wasn’t an easy out. Overeem fired back. He landed a sidekick to the body and got off balance. Miocic put him on his back and put him to sleep with a series of strikes.

RELATED > UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem Full Live Results and Fight Stats

Sixth-ranked women’s strawweight contender Andrade earned a Performance of the Night bonus for her first-round submission of seventh-ranked Joanne Calderwood.  Andrade utilized her grappling to put the Scottish Calderwood on her back.  As Calderwood worked her way back to her feet late in the opening frame, Andrade locked on a guillotine choke forcing “JoJo” to tap out.

The final bonus was awarded to Medeiros for his second-round finish of Sean Spencer to kick off the night of fights.  Medeiros struggled to land strikes in the early going, but found his range as the first round played out.  Medeiros landed a head kick in the opening moments of the second round, dropping Spencer.  He worked his way to Spencer’s back where he sunk in a rear-naked choke ending the fight.

UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem featured four decisions, three submissions and three knockout finishes.

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