Alice Pereira is going home $100,000 richer. The 20-year-old Brazilian bantamweight picked up a Performance of the Night bonus on Saturday at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas after a first-round TKO of Darya Zheleznyakova. The fight ended between rounds, after a cut Pereira opened with an elbow from top position was examined and Zheleznyakova declined to continue.
The UFC announced the awards after the card, which MMA Junkie lists as UFC Fight Night 290. Pereira got her check alongside three other $100K winners: Brendan Allen, Andre Fili and Otari Tanzilovi. There was no Fight of the Night.
Pereira’s fight was early on the card, the second bout of the night according to Heavy, and MMA Junkie noted it was the first of eight straight finishes at the Apex. It was also the strangest of them. MMA Mania described Pereira hurting the Russian repeatedly in the pocket and rocking her, then taking her down along the fence. The commentary team questioned that choice because the knockout looked available on the feet. Pereira turned it into a ground clinic anyway, passing to mount and hammering “The Iron Lady” before an elbow just ahead of the horn split Zheleznyakova’s forehead. Officials looked the cut over after the round, Zheleznyakova was asked if she wanted to keep going, and she said no. The result goes down as a TKO at the end of five minutes.
Pereira moves to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the UFC, and per MMA Mania that’s two straight wins inside the Octagon. Zheleznyakova drops to 10-4 and 2-3 with the promotion. There’s no word yet on Pereira’s next fight, but MMA Mania suggested the win might be enough to get her into the 135-pound rankings.
The rest of the bonus haul
Allen (28-7) collected his bonus by choking out Christian Leroy Duncan (15-3) with a fifth-round rear-naked choke in the main event, his fourth straight win, according to MMA Mania. Fili (26-14) separated Kai Kamaka III from consciousness with a second-round head kick. It was the third high-kick KO of his UFC run, and he was gentleman enough to pull back the follow-up punch. Tanzilovi (11-2) beat Malcolm Wellmaker with a second-round head kick and handed him his third loss in a row.
Julius Walker, Francisco Prado, Niko Price and Allen Frye Jr. each earned $25,000 finish bonuses. Price won his retirement fight against Leon Shahbazyan. Walker stopped Gerald Meerschaert, who announced his retirement after the loss. The reports disagree on Brendson Ribeiro. MMA Junkie and MMA Mania list him as a $25K winner for his guillotine of Felipe Franco, while Heavy reported he missed weight and didn’t qualify.
The winners spoke at the post-fight press conference, which the UFC streamed on YouTube.
My take: I’ll forgive the takedown. A 20-year-old who already has the KO lined up and chooses to go prove she can pass to mount and carve somebody up from the top is a kid who wants to win every way there is to win, and that’s the scary kind. Bantamweight hasn’t had much new blood worth getting excited about lately. Put a number next to her name and give her somebody ranked.
