UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva retained his belt Saturday at UFC 126 over Vitor Belfort and the finish was named by the UFC as the Knockout of the Night.
The other post-fight awards went to Jon Jones for Submission of the Night and Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly for the Fight of the Night. Each winner will take home a $75,000 bonus.
Silva became only the second man in Belfort's 14-plus year career to stop Belfort with strikes. In the first round of the UFC 126 main event, Silva clipped Belfort with a front kick to the chin, sinking Belfort to the mat. Silva followed with punches to finalize the win at three minutes and 29 seconds.
Silva said in the post-fight conference that the kick was perfected through the help of Steven Seagal.
In a light heavyweight bout, Jones grabbed a guillotine choke for the submission win over Ryan Bader at 4:22 of round two. As another surprise bonus, the 23-year-old will receive a title shot against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 on March 19 in Newark, N.J.
In the Cerrone-Kelly fight which aired on Spike TV, Cerrone submitted Kelly with a rear-naked choke at 3:48 of the second to earn his first UFC win.
The other post-fight awards went to Jon Jones for Submission of the Night and Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly for the Fight of the Night. Each winner will take home a $75,000 bonus.
Silva became only the second man in Belfort's 14-plus year career to stop Belfort with strikes. In the first round of the UFC 126 main event, Silva clipped Belfort with a front kick to the chin, sinking Belfort to the mat. Silva followed with punches to finalize the win at three minutes and 29 seconds.
Silva said in the post-fight conference that the kick was perfected through the help of Steven Seagal.
In a light heavyweight bout, Jones grabbed a guillotine choke for the submission win over Ryan Bader at 4:22 of round two. As another surprise bonus, the 23-year-old will receive a title shot against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 128 on March 19 in Newark, N.J.
In the Cerrone-Kelly fight which aired on Spike TV, Cerrone submitted Kelly with a rear-naked choke at 3:48 of the second to earn his first UFC win.