Brian Ortega’s Knockout of Frankie Edgar Leads Charge on UFC 222 Bonuses

With his incredible knockout of Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega led the charge on the UFC 222 post-fight bonuses on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Though most people didn’t discount the undefeated Ortega, hardly anyone would have seen the finish coming the way it did. 

Ortega has a highly regarded submission game, so many people felt he had a shot at catching Edgar in a submission, but that didn’t happen. He had to weather an early onslaught from Edgar to come on strong in the waning moments of the first round to rock Edgar and then put him away via knockout. 

Not only did Ortega become the first fighter to ever knock Edgar out, he became the first fighter to ever finish the former UFC lightweight champion.

Headed for a UFC featherweight title shot with current champion Max Holloway, Ortega will first have to make a trip to the bank, where he’ll cash a $50,000 check for earning one of the UFC 222 Performance of the Night bonuses.

The other Performance bonus went to Octagon newcomer Alex Hernandez, who surprisingly made quick work of longtime UFC veteran Beneil Dariush. Hernandez took the fight on extremely short notice when Bobby Green had to withdraw from the fight. He made the most of his opportunity, knocking Dariush out in 42 seconds to earn his $50,000 bonus.

This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com