UFC 85 Awards

The fight of the night, submission of the night and KO of the night bonuses have been awarded.

The fight of the night was awarded to one of the undercard bouts, which proved to be suprisingly exciting and well worth the award. The fighters to receive this were Matt Wiman and Thiago tavares. Wiman has been training with California based fight team The Pit, headed by John Hackleman and home of former Light Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. This new training regime seems to have worked wonders on Wiman, who was more dynamic and exposive than we have ever seen him before. Both fighters were constantly working for submissions throughout the fight, until Wiman was able to secure the finish with a flurry of punches.

In a stunning finish, Thiago Alves took KO of the night for his brutal knock out of former Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes. Alves delivered a flying knee to Hughes' chin which sent him careering into the mat, and finished it off with a few solid punches to the face before it was stopped. There is some controversy amongst fans, as many believe that, as Alves didn't make weight, he shouldn't be awarded the bonus.

The submission of the night came from an unaired prelim fight, although fans were treated to a highlight of the finish in between fights. The award went to UFC newcomer Kevin Burns for his submission over Roan Carneiro. Burns submitted Carneiro via triangle choke in round 1. This is an amazing feat for so many reasons. Kevin Burns took the fight on less than two weeks notice, as Carneiro's original opponent, Ryo Chonan, pulled out of the event. Burns is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, and managed to submit a world champion jiu-jitsu black belt in less than one round. This was, to most fans, an unthinkable outcome.

All fighters mentioned received a bonus of $50,000 dollars.

Ryo Chonan Out Of UFC 85

Former Pride fighter Ryo Chonan is reportedly out of UFC 85, although no reason has yet been given.

The UFC have drafted in Kevin "The Fire" Burns to replace him. This will be Burns' first time in the UFC, and has little under two weeks to get himself in shape, and travel from Iowa to the UK.

Burns holds a record of 4-1 and has stopped his opponents in all four of his wins, three of them by submission. Credit has to be given to Burns for taking the fight on such short notice. His opponent will be Roan Carneiro, who has a professional record of 12-6 and is 2-1 in the UFC.