Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Filipovic
KRAKOW, Poland – Mirko Filipovic, Gabriel Gonzaga, Leon Edwards and Maryna Moroz each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 64 event.
Edwards and Moroz won “Performance of the Night” bonuses, while the main event bout between Filipovic and Gonzaga earned “Fight of the Night” honors.
UFC officials announced the winners at the post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie attended.
UFC Fight Night 64 took place at Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland, and was the UFC’s debut in that country. The entire event streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Filipovic (31-11-2 MMA, 5-6 UFC) scored a comeback knockout in his first fight with the UFC since October 2011. Gonzaga (16-10 MMA, 11-9 UFC) controlled the first two rounds, securing the mount multiple times and opening a cut on the face of “Cro Cop,” but his inability to put away the 40-year-old legend came back to cost him. In Round 3, Filipovic scored with an elbow that immediately put Gonzaga on wobbly legs before following him to the ground and throwing elbows and punches while Gonzaga covered up, seemingly begging for the referee to jump in and call a halt to the contest.
Edwards (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) came up short of putting his name in the record books for fastest knockout in welterweight history, but second place is nothing to sneeze at. Edwards took on tough UFC veteran Seth Baczynski (19-13 MMA, 5-6 UFC) and needed only a few punches and eight seconds to notch the knockout victory. Given the speed with which he scored the KO, Edwards seemed a lock for a $50,000 bump in pay.
Moroz (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) put an end to talk of a Joanne Calderwood (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) title shot by winning the brief exchange on the feet, pulling guard and locking up an armbar for the submission win. The result was shocking, as was Moroz’s direct confrontation and ensuing call-out of new UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 64, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
