Anthony Smith, Aleksandar Rakic, Makwan Amirkhani and Leonardo Santos each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 11 event.
All four fighters earned “Performance of the Night” honors; no “Fight of the Night” was given out. UFC officials announced the winners following the event.
Smith (32-14 MMA, 8-4 UFC) submitted home-country fan favorite and three-time light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson (18-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) in the fourth round of the main event with a rear-naked choke.
Gustafsson was more than a 3-1 favorite in the fight. Afterward, he announced his retirement from the support, which seemed to take most of the MMA world by surprise.
In the co-feature, Rakic (12-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) delivered one of the most vicious head-kick knockouts in recent memory against Jimi Manuwa (17-6 MMA, 6-6 UFC). Rakic stayed perfect in the UFC’s light heavyweight division and put Manuwa away in just 47 seconds.
Just before that, Amirkhani (15-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) submitted Chris Fishgold (18-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in the second round in his return after a year away from the featherweight division.
And on the prelims, Santos (17-3-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) had a highlight-reel finish when he took out Stevie Ray (22-9 MMA, 6-4 UFC) with a massive right hand in their lightweight fight. Then he sprinted out of the cage. Santos’ win came after a layoff of nearly 1,000 days.
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 11, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
