Josh Barnett of the United States leaves the Octagon after losing by submission to Ben Rothwell of the United States (not pictured) in the second round of their heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at the Prudential Center on January 30, 2016 (Photo : Getty Images/ Elsa)
The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday held its fifth event in Germany with UFC Fight Night: Arlvoski vs. Barnett. For the first time, the city of Hamburg, the second largest city in Germany, hosted the octagaon.
The UFC Fight Night 93 main eventers Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett are pioneers, having held the UFC heavyweight championship years ago, and it showed in their performances as they remained in the Top 10 of the division, MMA Weekly reported.
Both the former heavyweight champions showed why they are still hovering around the top, putting on a back-and-forth battle that earned them the Fight of the Night honor.
The event which was held at Barclaycard Arena, had 11, 763 spectators in attendance and it produced $913,428 in gate receipts. Those in attendance witnessed former heavyweight champions Josh Barnett Andrei Arlovski go to war in the fight card's main event.
Barnett won the battle with Arlovski, wearing him down with a strong clinch match before sending him late in the third round. In addition to Fight of the Night, Barnett ended up capturing one of the Performance of the Night awards.
According to Yahoo News, Alexander Gustafsson, second-ranked light heavyweight snapped a two-fight losing streak in the co-main event by defeating Jan Blachowicz. Blachowicz won the striking exchanges, but Gustafsson's take down ability and top control on the ground ended up been too much for the Polish up-an-comer. He grounded and pounded Blachowicz for both the second and third rounds.
Fourth-ranked 205-pound contender Ryan Bader recovered from a loss to Anthony Johnson in his last outing to knockout Ilir Latifi with a knee in the second round. The win kept Bader solidly in title contention.
Official: Ryan Bader def. Ilir Latifi by KO (knee) at 2:06 of the second round. #UFCHamburg pic.twitter.com/t5gKMJZaX3
— Classic UFC Moments (@UFCmoments) September 3, 2016
Each award is accompanied by a $50,000 bonus check. Having taken home two honors, Barnett will receive $100,000 in post-fight bonus money.
Barnett said after the fight that together with Andrei, they had come there to give fans a great fight. He looked as good as he has in recent memory in the victory, but as he well admits, it was not as easy as the finish made it look.
"The main thing was getting past the physical level. Andrei had strength. He made me work harder than I wanted to," he concluded.
Watch a video of the UFC fight highlight here:
