It was a night to remember for Cheyanne
Buys at
UFC on ESPN 28.
The Dana White’s Contender Series alum received a $50,000
“Performance of the Night” check for her technical knockout victory
against Gloria de
Paula in the evening’s co-main event. Buys landed a
perfectly-timed head kick when her foe attempted to return to her
feet, and despite her best efforts, De Paula was unable to remain
upright after absorbing that blow. Buys followed up with
ground-and-pound from mount to force the stoppage 60 seconds into
the strawweight bout.
Elsewhere, Melsik
Baghdasaryan garnered the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance
of the Night” award thanks to a stoppage of fellow Contender Series
alum Collin
Anglin in a featured featherweight matchup. In the second
round, Baghdasaryan connected shin-to-skull with a head kick and
finshed the fight with follow-up punches at the 1:50 mark of the
period.
Finally, Jason Witt
and Bryan
Barberena earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece
for their featured welterweight showdown. While Witt appeared to
rack up an early lead on the scorecards through two rounds,
Barberena nearly rallied to finish his foe in a wild final frame.
Ultimately, Witt survived to claim a majority decision triumph.