UFC 209: Where Do the Main Card Winners Go From Here? by Josh Evanoff

Lando Vannata and David Teymur was named the UFC 209 Fight of the Night while Iuri Alcantara and Darren Elkins took home Performance of the Night bonuses.

Although UFC 209 in Las Vegas had a disappointing main event, the card was filled with solid action throughout the night. Fight of the Night honors went to Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur while Performances of the Night were given to Iuri Alcantara and Darren Elkins, each who came back from behind to win.

Teymur improves to 6-1 all-time in his MMA career, losing his first career fight and winning the rest. He is 3-0 in the UFC. Vannata drops to 9-2, losing two of his last three. This is the third fight in a row Vannata has been involved in a bonus, two of them being a Fight of the Night bonus.

Elkins had to rally late in the fight after being down early against Misrad Bektic. Bektic had control of the entire match until late in the third round when Elkins delivered a head kick to knock out Bektic. Alongside picking up his fourth straight win and owning a 22-5 record, Elkins handed Bektic his first loss.

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This is Elkins’ first career bonus. Bektic was 11-0 coming into this fight. In addition to beating another ranked opponent, Elkins will get bumped up a bit in the rankings as he looks to crack the top 10 soon in the UFC featherweight division.

Like Elkins, Alcantara also had to come from behind to win against an undefeated opponent. After being dominated and taking plenty of shots, Alcantara turned the tables quickly with a kneebar submission. Alcantara, who is 35-7 (1), earned his second straight Performance of the Night bonus and received his third bonus in as many fights.

Sanders was 11-0 before dropping his first career fight. Alcantara is in the bottom of the UFC bantamweight rankings. But with another impressive performance, he should go up a bit as he tries to become a legitmate contender in the division.