Jakub Wiklacz earned an improbable victory on Saturday. |
Getty/UFC
Jakub
Wiklacz was one second from sweating out the scorecards in his
second UFC bout. Instead, he’s 2-0 in the Octagon and $100,000
richer.
The former KSW champion earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus
for his last-second submission of Muin
Gafurov in a preliminary bantamweight bout at
UFC Vegas 113 on Saturday night. Gafurov seemed to be doing
well in the final stanza when Wiklacz locked in a guillotine choke
following an ill-advised takedown attempt, rolled into mount and
forced a tapout at the 4:59 mark of Round 3.
Meanwhile, Mario
Bautista captured the card’s other $100,000 “Performance of the
Night” award for a masterful win over Vinicius
Oliveira in the evening’s main event. The MMA Lab product
trapped his foe in a crucifix and threatened with a kimura before
locking in a fight-ending rear-naked choke to elicit at tapout at
the 4:46 mark of Round 2.
Finally, Michal
Oleksiejczuk and Marc-Andre
Barriault received “Fight of the Night” honors and $100,000
apiece for their back-and-forth slugfest at middleweight.
Oleksiejczuk appeared to be well on his way to an easy victory
after a dominant Round 1, but Barriault picked up the intensity
considerably down the stretch. While both fighters traded blows
liberally over the final 10 minutes, one final push from
Oleksiejczuk was enough to secure a decision triumph.