Kamaru Usman hadn’t fought at welterweight, hadn’t received a struggle, and hadn’t collected a post-fight bonus in years.
He checked off all these containers at UFC Atlanta.
In his first struggle since October 2023, the previous welterweight champion placed on a dominant show, out-wrestling Joaquin Buckley for the higher a part of 5 rounds to earn a unanimous determination and snap a three-fight skid. Buckley confirmed spark within the fifth, lastly getting his offense going and placing a scare in Usman, which was sufficient to push their bout to a Battle of the Evening award and an additional $50,000 for each males.
That is the second Battle of the Evening for Usman, who additionally received the honour for a five-round thriller in his first assembly with Colby Covington at UFC 245.
For Buckley, that is his first Battle of the Evening, however he’s beforehand cashed out Efficiency of the Evening bonuses 5 occasions.
A pair of up-and-coming prospects earned Efficiency of the Evening bonuses, Malcolm Wellmaker and Jose Ochoa.
Wellmaker is now 2-0 within the UFC with two bonuses after scoring an unbelievable one-punch knockout of Kris Moutinho.
Ochoa bounced again from a disappointing loss in his UFC debut with a second-round drubbing of Cody Durden. The Peruvian prospect turned up the warmth early in Spherical 2, blasting Durden with punches to finish the struggle 11 seconds into the body.
