After his tenth consecutive title defense, Demetrious Johnson made it known that he wants to get paid.
Well, it may not be the million dollar paycheck he was hoping for, but “Mighty Mouse” will be taking home an extra $50,000 for submitting Wilson Reis in the third round.
Johnson came into his record-tying title defense on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night: Kansas City as a massive favorite and he showed exactly why most fans consider him the pound-for-pound kingpin. He controlled the tempo of the fight early and dropped Reis with a knee to the body at the end of the second round. In the third, he hit a takedown and battered Reis on the ground from the mount position, opening up a cut on Reis and then snatching up an armbar to end the fight.
It was a sensational performance and well deserving of Performance of the Night honors — the fourth such award Johnson has taken home.
Johnson wasn’t the only one to impress though. Robert Whittaker gave a breakout performance, knocking out the heavy favorite Ronaldo Souza in the second round.
Whittaker just looked a step faster all evening, darting in and out of range with punches while “Jacare” chased him around the cage. In the first round, Souza actually managed to get Whittaker down for a brief moment, but Whittaker quickly got back to his feet, edging a close round on two of the judge’s scorecards. But the second round was all Whittaker, who dropped Jacare repeatedly before finishing him off with a head kick and follow-up elbows and punches.
The win announced Whittaker as a legitimate title threat in the clogged 185-pound division and earned him a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, his third in the promotion.
Additionally, Tim Elliott and Louis Smolka put on a crackerjack 125-pound fight on the FOX prelims that took home Fight of the Night honors.
Elliott came into the fight fresh off his losing effort to Johnson back in December, but The Ultimate Fighter 24 winner fared much better against Smolka, winning all three rounds on his way to a unanimous decision victory. The battle was mostly contest on the mat, with Elliott pushing a ridiculous pace and getting the better of the wild and exciting scrambles. The win marks Elliott’s first in the UFC since Aug. 2013 and entrenches him firmly in the top ten of the flyweight division.
For Smolka, the loss is his third in a row, but perhaps he can take solace in taking home an extra $50,000 for putting on one of the most entertaining fights of 2017.