UFC Gdansk post-fight bonuses: Till, Stasiak among $50K winners

Check out our breakdown of the post-fight bonuses from UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs. Till in Gdansk, Poland.

The Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland was home to a mixed bag fights, with three (T)KOs, one submission and seven decisions. In one of the more surreal moments of the fight, referee Marc Goddard had to pause the Lobov vs. Fili bout to reprimand UFC superstar Conor McGregor over his unofficial cornering of the Russian Hammer.

Gate: $677,000

Attendance: 11,138

Performances of the Night: Jan Blachowicz and Darren Till

Jan Blachowicz and Devin Clark were having a back-and-forth bout, with both men trading shots for the first eight minutes. Then, out of nowhere, Jan Blachowicz decided he wanted to see what would happen if he locked in a Hulk Hogan sleeper hold.

Clark shot in for a takedown, but ended up giving Blachowicz access to his back in the process. The hometown fighter grabbed his neck and squeezed. While standing. With no hooks in. Clark, not realizing he’s meant to let the ref drop his hand three times in a sleeper hold, panicked and tapped out, giving Blachowicz the victory and a $50,000 bonus.

England’s Darren Till was full of bravado before tonight’s event, warning veteran Donald Cerrone, “Do not stand with me, you will die.” Hyperbolic, sure, but he was right to be confident in his striking skills. The Scouser pressured Cowboy from the opening bell and the Jackson-Wink fighter seemed unable to figure out an effective counter to the hard straights coming at him.

Cerrone uncharacteristically shot in for a takedown on the Liverpool prospect, but it only bought him a moment’s respite, as Till continued to throw strikes through Cerrone’s high guard, rocking him and finally dropping him with a relentless onslaught of shots. Referee Marc Goddard called a stop to the fight to protect the turtling Cowboy, and Till earned himself a cool $50 Gs.

The young prospect was also smart enough to make the most of his mic time after the fight, calling out Mike Perry and confronting him through the cage. An emphatic win over a popular veteran followed up by a savvy call out suggests Till is someone to watch going forward.

Fight of the Night: Damian Stasiak vs. Brian Kelleher

Damian Stasiak and Brian Kelleher put on an action-packed bout that had something for everyone. Continuing a recent trend in FOTN winners, this fight had action in every phase of the game, with bursts of hard striking coupled with tight submission attempts, scrambles, and even some capoeira.

Kelleher managed to control the majority of the bout, but both men had their moments. In the third, Kelleher’s relentless focus on Stasiak’s damaged nose provoked the Poland native into throwing caution to the wind late in the third round, launching increasingly more powerful shots. Kelleher timed his moment, countering an uppercut attempt with a right hook and that was all she wrote. Kelleher got the win, but both men left the Ergo Arena $50,000 richer.