UFC St. Petersburg bonuses: Magomed Mustafaev, Sergey Pavlovich rewarded for violent finishes
It was a night of violence at UFC St. Petersburg.
With six finishes, including five by knockout, UFC officials officials certainly had a tall task in front of them when they sat down to select their post-fight bonus winners.
Right out of the gate, Magomed Mustafaev kicked off the entire card with highlight reel spinning back kick knockout over Rafael Fiziev. This bout not only earned Mustafaev his first Performance of the Night bonus but marked his first bout inside the Octagon since suffering an arm injury during his loss to Kevin Lee in November 2016.
Not one to be outdone, Sergey Pavlovich walked away with the other Performance of the Night bonus for his 66-second knockout over Marcelo Golm.
Rounding out bonus winners, Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan left the Octagon with an extra $50,000 in their pockets for their back-and-forth contest in the co-main event. During the fight, the 22-year-old Tsarukyan, who was making his promotional debut, surprised everyone with the level of grappling he displayed against Makhachev, a multiple time Sambo specialist. While Tsarukyan came up short, he does hold the honor of being the first fighter to secure a takedown on Makhachev inside the Octagon.