Movsar Evloev, Diego Lopes Receive ‘Fight of the Night’ Honors

Diego
Lopes gave Movsar
Evloev a tougher test than anyone could have imagined, and both
fighter’s bank accounts benefitted as a result.

Evloev and Lopes garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000
apiece for their entertaining featherweight feature bout at
UFC
288 on Saturday night. Lopes, who accepted the bout on less
than a week’s notice, rocked his foe with a right hand early and
threatened with multiple submission attempts throughout the fight.
Ultimately, Evloev prevailed via unanimous decision behind superior
striking, pressure and wrestling.

Elsewhere, Xiaonan Yan
earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for her
first-round knockout of Jessica
Andrade in a strawweight clash on the main card. Yan
capitalized on her opponent’s reckless aggression, as she dropped
Andrade with a counter right hand and finished the bout with
follow-up punches on the canvas at the 2:20 mark of the period.

Finally, Matt
Frevola received the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of
the Night” check by virtue of a stoppage of Drew Dober in
their preliminary lightweight encounter. Frevola dropped Dober with
a counter right and then swarmed with ground-and-pound to earn the
stoppage 4:08 into the opening stanza.