Welcome to r/mma's post-event discussion of UFC 299: O'Malley vs. Vera 2, from Miami, Florida, United States!
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Dustin Poirier is now tied with Edson Barboza for most “Fight of the Night” bonuses after his thrilling showdown with Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299.
Poirier survived tough waters in the first round to starch Saint Denis in the second, thrilling the crowd to earn an additional $ 50,000 with “Fight of the Night.” At 9 “FOTN” bonuses, Poirier is now tied with Barboza for most in promotional history.
UFC CEO Dana White announced Poirier and Saint Denis’ post-fight bonus at the press conference for UFC 299, which took place Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami.
In another positive development, White said every finisher at UFC 299 earned a $ 50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus. That didn’t include Poirier, he added, because of the “Fight of the Night” bonus already awarded. But a total of four fighters got an extra check for their highlight-reel performances.
Additionally, UFC 299 headliner Sean O’Malley earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his dominant decision win over Chito Vera in their rematch.
Others to get “Performance of the Night” bonuses include:
Jack Della Maddalena, who stopped Gilbert Burns in the third round after early struggles on the pay-per-view main card.
Curtis Blaydes shocked Jailton Almeida with a flurry of hammerfists, and what followed was his fourth bonus.
Michel Pereira’s acrobatic win over Michal Oleksiejczuk on the prelims earned him a fifth performance bonus.
Robelis Despaigne’s 18-second destruction of Josh Parisian unsurprisingly got him his first bonus.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was very impressed with Dustin Poirier’s latest performance inside the Octagon.
Stepping into the co-main event spotlight, ‘The Diamond’ was tasked with taking out surging division standout Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 in Miami. Through the first seven minutes, things were not looking good for Poirier as the ‘God of War’ continued to smother the former interim titleholder with his world-class wrestling.
Poirier certainly wasn’t doing any favors for himself by attempting to go for the ever-enticing, but usually unsuccessful guillotine choke no less than four times.
However, Poirier turned the tables near the halfway point of the second round with a sneaky left uppercut that momentarily dropped Saint-Denis. That kickstarted a sequence of events allowing Poirier to land a monstrous right hook that immediately rendered BSD unconscious.
Dustin Poirier knocks out Benoit Saint-Denis!! pic.twitter.com/xs9NGSmtwR
— AJ (@PrestigePrince9) March 10, 2024
The ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ was quick to compliment his division rival on social media.
Very impressive Dustin
— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) March 10, 2024
“Very impressive Dustin,” Makhachev wrote on X.
Dustin Poirier Secures His Spot in the Lightweight Top Five
With his impressive victory over Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299, Dustin Poirier secured his spot as the division’s No. 3 ranked contender. Unfortunately, that won’t necessarily land him a shot at Makhachev’s 155-pound crown anytime soon. Currently, the protege of Khabib Nurmagomedov is expected to square off with BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje later this year — once ‘The Highlight’ takes care of some business at UFC 300 with Max Holloway.
Also going down at the promotion’s landmark event on April 13 is a title eliminator between former champion Charles Oliveira and rising contender Arman Tsarukyan.
Thus far, Makhachev has successfully defended his title twice in back-to-back bouts against former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski — the most recent coming in October when the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ dispatched ‘The Great’ with a brutal head kick in the opening round.
Benoit Saint Denis entered the octagon at Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla. on Saturday with an opportunity to leapfrog most of the 155-pound division. He faced former interim lightweight champion and third-ranked contender Dustin Poirier in the UFC 299 co-main event.
Poirier entered the fight coming off a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in his last fight. The always dangerous contender had never lost back-to-back fights and wasn’t planning to. The 12th-ranked Saint Denis was riding a five-fight winning streak.
Saint Denis landed first with a leg kick. Poirier responded with a hard leg kick. Saint Denis looked to get the fight to the ground but Poirier applied a guillotine choke. Saint Denis rolled to escape. He looked to get Poirier to the ground and delivered knees to the legs of the former interim titleholder. Poirier reversed the position but Saint Denis connected with a combination. Poirier again looked for a guillotine choke but Saint Denis defended the submission attempt.
Saint Denis pressed Poirier and landed knees to the body. Poirier worked to get the fight to the ground. Saint Denis used a kimura to stay on his feet. Saint Denis pressed forward with punches. His pace had been furious. Poirier looked for another guillotine and Saint Denis defended it. Saint Denis took Poirier’s back and applied a body triangle with a minute remaining in the round. Poirier defended his neck but Said Denis transitioned to an armbar. Poirier escapes the submission attempt and the round ended. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Saint Denis.
Saint Denis pressed Poirier and Poirier landed a right hand that stunned Saint Denis. Poirier, against his corner’s wishes, went for a guillotine choke. Saint Denis escapes and took Poirier’s back. Poirier reversed the position and Saint Denis stood. Saint Denis worked for a takedown. He backed up a step and threw punches. Poirier separated and landed a left hand. Poirier landed a right hand. A follow-up right hand dropped Saint Denis. Poirier thought about another guillotine choke but didn’t go for it. He landed another right hand that sent Saint Denis crashing to the canvas ending the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 3:32 of the second round.
THE DIAMOND GETS THE KO IN ROUND 2 😤#UFC299 | @DustinPoirier pic.twitter.com/DouV3eQeKD
Dustin Poirier isn’t ready to pass to the torch to the next generation just yet.
Despite his vast experience advantage over higher level competition, Poirier walked into his fight at UFC 299 as an underdog to Benoit Saint Denis but none of that mattered once the fists started flying. A wild, back-and-forth brawl erupted between the two lightweights but in the end it was Poirier who unleashed a brutal right hook that demolished Saint Denis in the second round to end the fight.
DUSTIN POIRIER JUST SLEPT SAINT DENIS #UFC299 pic.twitter.com/sQkTedU0bo
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) March 10, 2024
It was another stunning performance from Poirier as he dispatches a highly touted prospect and gets back in the win column following his loss to Justin Gaethje last year. The knockout came at 2:32 in the second round as Poirier adds Saint Denis to his long list of victims.
“I was getting beat up a little bit … I got him at the end,” Poirier said about the fight. “He was pretty strong. I took this fight because he finished his last five opponents. He’s dangerous. Every win in his professional career, he’s finished. I said I’ve got to take this fight because I honor this game that we do. I’m just a man and I’ve got a lot of respect for Benoit Saint Denis.”
Before he got the knockout, Poirier was definitely tested with a game performance from Saint Denis.
Like The Terminator just marching forward, Saint Denis put on a relentless pace as he threw hard, heavy punches and closed the distance on Poirier throughout the opening round. Poirier made a couple of failed attempts at grabbing one of his signature guillotine chokes but Saint Denis kept finding a way to slip free.
Saint Denis ate some hard shots of his own but somehow he just walked through the punches and kept coming after Poirier. On the inside, Saint Denis launched several hard elbows that clipped Poirier on the top of the head before taking the fight back to the ground again.
It didn’t take long for Saint Denis to advance to take the back and lock on the body triangle but Poirier never gave him an inch as he survived the round.
At the start of round two, Poirier connected with his best punch as he blasted Saint Denis with an uppercut that stunned the Frenchman. As Saint Denis dropped for a takedown, Poirier went for another ill-advised guillotine choke that put him on his back again.
Saint Denis got out of the submission and immediately moved to mount before taking the back to fish for submissions but Poirier eventually worked his way free.
Back on the feet, Saint Denis once again plowed forward but this time Poirier met him with a perfectly timed uppercut that rattled the French fighter and put him on wobbly legs. That didn’t stop him from stepping back into the fire again but Poirier made him pay for it with the right hook that snapped Saint Denis’ head around as he crashed to the canvas.
Poirier followed up with one more punch for good measure as the referee rushed in to stop the fight.
With so many believing Saturday might serve as the moment when Poirier finally slipped from the top of the division and Saint Denis ascended to take his place, the former interim lightweight champion said not so fast. It’s another highlight reel finish to add to a career filled with them as Poirier got the knockout and cements his spot as one of the best 155-pounders in the world.
Petr Yan ended his three-fight losing streak with an impressive showing to earn a unanimous decision win over Song Yadong in the opening fight on the main card at UFC 299.
It was a bit of a slow start in the first round but once Yan found his rhythm, he was connecting with the better strikes and even mixed in a couple of takedowns to slow Song down. Over 15 minutes, Yan put on a grueling pace as he wore down Song to secure the much needed victory.
The judges all scored the fight 29-28 with Yan getting his first win since 2021 when he defeated Cory Sandhagen.
“One year, I don’t fight,” Yan said afterwards. “I’m very happy to stay here with this win. It’s very, very important win for me. Thank you very much who support me. I am back. I want a hard fight with a hard opponent. It doesn’t matter who is my next opponent.”
Before the fight even started, Song said he wanted to prove his boxing superiority but his best weapon early was darting for a takedown and then cracking Yan with a punch whenever he reacted. The repeated grappling attempts paid off with Song taking Yan down momentarily where he landed a few more strikes before resetting back on the feet again.
As time passed, Yan started letting his hands go more and more and he was beginning to connect with regularity, especially a snapping jab that kept finding a home on Song’s chin. In return, Song displayed his signature speed and power on the feet and still looking for the takedowns to keep the former bantamweight champion guessing.
The strikes continued flying until Yan turned the tables on Song with a well-timed takedown of his own. From there, Yan hammered away with ground and pound with a cut opening up over Song’s left eye.
With five minutes remaining, Yan was still displaying quick hands and good power behind every combination but Song refused to back down during the exchanges. Yan’s jab continued to give Song problems and the Team Alpha Male fighter was just a step behind with his own strikes.
Late in the fight, Yan secured another takedown and he blasted away with a few more short punches and elbows to ensure he got the victory. The judges all agreed with Yan winning the unanimous decision after three hard-fought rounds.
Despite a trio of losses prior to Saturday night, Yan remains one of the toughest matchups in the entire bantamweight division and his win over Song should put him back in the thick of things against the best of the best at 135 pounds.
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