The Ultimate Fighting Championship brass, looking for more fan involvement, tried something new during the UFC’s latest event: They opted to let fans decide who would receive the “Fight of the Night” bonus.
During UFC 124, which was held on Saturday, December 11 in Montreal, fans could go to the UFC’s website and decide which two fighters they felt deserved to pocket $100,000 each for the best fight from the event.
The fans voted the main event fight between Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck as the fight of the night. St. Pierre, the UFC welterweight champion, dominated the bout from start to finish, landing jabs and kicks at will on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
After the fight, UFC president Dana White said that it would be the first and the last time the fans would get to decide who would receive the “Fight of the Night” bonus.
White felt that the award should have gone to Sean Pierson and Matt Riddle, who battled on the preliminary card of the event. Pierson and Riddle fought a tough fight for three full rounds with both fighters bringing heavy strikes.
Pierson, who was making his UFC debut, won the fight via unanimous decision. White said, “I would agree that the prelim. card was the fight of the night, and I will take care of those guys.”
In the post-fight press conference White joked with St. Pierre, telling the champion that he owed his buddy (Pierson) $100,000.
White was not joking when he said the experiment with the fans voting on fight of the night was over. "It's one of the hazards. (The fans) are always chirping about how we mess it up and here we are,” White said. “They blew their chance, that's it. It's over."
Alice Dodd Kate Walsh Autumn Reeser Camilla Belle Blu Cantrell
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