UFC Fight Night 121 bonuses: You know Tai Tuivasa's flying knee KO picked up $50,000

SYDNEY – Tai Tuivasa, Nik Lentz, Frank Camacho and Damien Brown each earned $50,000 fight-night bonuses at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 121 event.

Tuivasa and Lentz picked up “Performance of the Night” awards, and Camacho and Brown earned “Fight of the Night” honors.

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

Tuivasa (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made his UFC debut a memorable with a thudding first-round knockout of Rashad Coulter (8-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) courtesy of a leaping knee to the chin. First, Tuivasa took Coulter’s legs out from under him with a right kick. And when Coulter got back to his feet, Tuivasa was there already planning his attack. Afterward, he started planning his attack on the UFC’s heavyweight division.

There was bad blood between Lentz (28-8-2 MMA, 12-5-1 UFC) and former American Top Team stablemate Will Brooks (18-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC), especially given their fight at UFC 216 was scrapped at the 11th hour thanks to a medical issue for Lentz. But despite Brooks’ 5-1 favorite status, Lentz kept after a guillotine choke till he finally got one in the second round off a Brooks takedown attempt. The former Bellator lightweight champion had to tap quickly when Lentz rolled it over for the update.

Camacho (21-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Brown (17-11 MMA, 2-3 UFC) beat hell out of each other for 15 minutes in their catchweight bout (Camacho missed weight for the welterweight limit) on the prelims. But it was Camacho who landed with more volume, bloodying Brown up in front of Brown’s home fans for a split decision. Brown never went away, though, and stayed in the pocket to throw down in a classic slugfest.

UFC Fight Night 121 took place Sunday (but aired live on Saturday in North America due to the time difference) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

For more on UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.