A back and forth brawl between bantamweight vets Marlon Vera and Davey Grant left the small crowd at the UFC APEX standing, and it also took “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC Vegas 29.
Vera and Grant each were the recipients of a $50,000 bonus, the UFC announced after Saturday’s event in Las Vegas. Vera took home a unanimous decision by scores of 29–27, 29–28, 30–26 after three bloody rounds.
Vera, a vet of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, cut up Grant with a series of elbows and took his British opponent’s best punches after suffering a decision loss to ex-champ Jose Aldo in his previous outing. Grant, a vet of TUF 18, had knocked out his two previous opponents but saw a three-fight winning streak snapped.
Two fighters received “Performance of the Night” bonuses at the event: Matt Brown, who knocked out his former TUF 19 student Dhiego Lima with a well-placed punch in the second round; and Seungwoo Choi, who picked up a first-round stoppage of Julian Erosa one fight before Vera and Grant’s “Fight of the Night” on the main card. Both Brown and Choi took home an additional $50,000.
UFC Vegas 29 was headlined by a featherweight fight between The Korean Zombie and Dan Ige. Zombie, otherwise known as Chan Sung Jung, captured a unanimous decision.