Anthony Hernandez earned the biggest win of his career and another $50,000 to boot.

Hernandez dominated Michel Pereira in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 99 card at the UFC APEX en route to a fifth-round TKO win. Pereira landed a big flurry early on, but for the next 20-plus minutes, it was “Fluffy” wearing Pereira down with relentless pressure, battering and bloodying the exciting standup fighter throughout the contest.

The just-turned 31-year-old earned the lone Performance of the Night bonus for his outstanding showing.

The UFC did award a Fight of the Night, and to the surprise of very few, it went to the featherweight clash between Darren Elkins and Daniel Pineda. Elkins won a unanimous decision, and his first career Fight of the Night bonus, while Pineda announced his retirement in defeat. It was the second time Pineda earned the award in his UFC career. Both fighters go home with an extra $50,000.

The UFC handed out three bonuses after Saturday’s card – one less than is customary.

After UFC Fight Night 245, three fighters picked up an extra $50,000 for their performances in Las Vegas. Check out the winners below.

Performance of the Night: Anthony Hernandez

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 19: (R-L) Anthony Hernandez punches Michel Pereira of Brazil in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Anthony Hernandez def. Michel Pereira via TKO (strikes) – Round 5, 2:22

Anthony Hernandez (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) absolutely destroyed Michel Pereira (31-12 MMA, 9-3 UFC) and eventually finished him with a fifth-round TKO. But the fight really could’ve been stopped well before that. Hernandez landed 10 takedowns for more than three full rounds of control time. He set a new record for takedown attempts and called for fights at the next level at middleweight.

Fight of the Night: Darren Elkins def. Daniel Pineda

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 19: (L-R) Daniel Pineda knees Darren Elkins in a featherweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Darren Elkins def. Daniel Pineda via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Darren Elkins (29-11 MMA, 19-10 UFC) and Daniel Pineda (28-17 MMA, 5-8 UFC) put on a classic Elkins fight, with blood all over the canvas by the time things were done. This time, most of it was Elkins’ opponent and not his own, though. Elkins and Pineda had a grinder of a scrap, and after 15 back-and-forth minutes, Elkins had his third win in four fights – and Pineda hung up his gloves.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 245.

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Jon Jones paid attention to Francis Ngannou’s return to MMA — and he was impressed.

Ngannou headlined PFL’s Battle of the Giants pay-per-view card on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, facing Renan Ferreira. The former UFC heavyweight champ disposed of Ferreira in the first round with absolutely brutal ground and pound that left his opponent unconscious on the canvas.

Jones went on Twitter and put Ngannou, and his performance over.

“What an amazing job Francis did tonight, displayed a complete MMA game,” Jones wrote. “Great kicks, great takedowns. It feels good to see him shine. Wow congratulations Champ, I see you.”

Ngannou and Jones were linked to a potential fight for years before the former made the decision to leave the UFC and vacate the title. Jones would fight former interim champ Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt at UFC 285 in March 2023 and picked up a quick submission to win his second divisional title.

“The Predator” competed in MMA for the first time in nearly three years after taking a pair of boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, suffering losses in both contests.

Jones will now defend against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309 next month at Madison Square Garden.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Francis Ngannou will never be able to fully cope with the tragic death of his 15-month-old son Kobe, but his victory at PFL: Battle of the Giants was a small aid in his healing process.

Ngannou (18-3) came into Saturday’s inaugural heavyweight superfight title clash with Renan Ferreira (13-4) with many questions around him. In addition to the weight of an unthinkable personal loss, it was also his first MMA fight in 1,000 days, and came seven months after his brutal knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in boxing.

He came out and took Ferreira down in the first round and battered him with ground strikes for the TKO finish, and afterward the emotions poured out in the cage.

“They’ve been telling me I’m tough to the point where I think I’m tough – and I recently just found out I wasn’t tough,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight. “I wasn’t that tough. Life can let you take the events and think you’re running away, and then it hits you really bad from the front. It’s something that I never imagined. I never knew how I would feel. I see people going through and out of compassion I tried to understand how they must feel. But I would never get anywhere close to how it feels exactly.”

For all the questions about him externally, Ngannou admits he had doubts about himself internally. He didn’t know how he would deal with returning to the spotlight and having to answer endless questions about his situation, and said those thoughts were even running through his mind on fight day.

Ngannou proved he’s still a serious threat inside the cage, though, and that answered a lot for him.

“It was hard,” Ngannou said. “It was one of those things where you ask yourself, ‘Is it ever going to be over?’ It might never be over. You might as well just learn how to roll with it, how to live with it. In certain cases, I would take time to breathe, but how long would that take? I don’t think there’s enough time for me to do that. I don’t think a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to grieve. So is it just about keeping going. It’s a new way of living that I have to learn.

“Unfortunately, (the win) doesn’t take my challenge away. My challenge is still there. It was my big challenge. My biggest challenge in the way that I wasn’t the person that I used to be coming into this fight. This fight for me was always a way to find out if I can still fight, if I still have it. If I can deal with this. With the pressure, with the fight week, with media and everything. We got through. I think it might take some time to process things.”

Ngannou said the circumstances around the fight makes the result and title victory more meaningful than his UFC championship win. Although it wasn’t the stand-up war some expected, Ngannou said he knew he was a more complete fighter than Ferreira and took the path of least resistance to get his hand raised.

“I could’ve tried to stay in striking and figure out who can box better than who,” Ngannou said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about the win. Even though he has good jiu-jitsu, I know I have good enough wrestling to control his jiu-jitsu and his position on the ground if I’m on top.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.

This is the UFC Vegas 99 live blog for Anthony Hernandez vs. Michel Pereira, the middleweight main event this Saturday in Las Vegas.

“Fluffy” Hernandez enters the headliner riding an impressive five-fight winning streak. Four of those wins have come via submission as Hernandez has proven himself to be one of the most dangerous grapplers at 185 pounds. Now he faces a fellow surging newcomer to the rankings in a battle to determine who gets a shot at the top 10 next.

Joining the UFC in 2019, Pereira—currently No. 15 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—began his UFC tenure as a welterweight, making a name for himself with his flashy style that featured spinning attacks, backflips, and a number of other extravagant maneuvers. After a couple of setbacks early on, Pereira found his stride, ripping off five straight wins at 170 pounds before moving up to middleweight. Since the jump up, Pereira has won three in a row in a combined 3:01. Now, Pereira has his eyes on climbing the rankings with a quick finish of Hernandez.

Check out the UFC main event live blog below.