Diego Lopez gave Movsar Ivlov a tougher test than anyone could have imagined, and both fighters’ bank accounts benefited as a result.
Evloev and Lopes earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 each for an entertaining featherweight feature at UFC 288 Saturday night. Lopez, who before the bout was less than a week away, rocked his opponent with a right hand early and threatened with multiple submission attempts throughout the fight. In the end, Evloev prevailed by unanimous decision behind excelling in hitting, pressing and wrestling.
Elsewhere, Xiaonan Yan earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for her first-round exit from Jessica Andrade in a lightweight match on the main card. Taking advantage of her opponent’s reckless aggression, Yan dropped Andrade with a counter-right hand and ended the bout with follow-up punches to the canvas at 2:20 of that period.
Finally, Matt Frivola received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for the evening due to Drew Dawber being stopped in their lightweight preliminary bout. Frivola dropped Duper with a right bunt and then lunged with ground and pound to earn stoppage 4:08 into the opening segment.