Melquizael Costa Just Spinning Back Kicked His Way Into Becoming The First Person To EVER Finish Dan Ige (And Then Launched His Cup Into The Crowd)

We finally got some excitement on this card! Melquizael Costa just became the first man to finish Dan Ige, and he did it in style - with a spinning back kick at the tail end of the first round! Shoutout to "The Dalmatian" on a hell of a performance there. Costa immediately called out Lopes, who was sitting in the crowd - but he kinda went "Eh!" when they cut to him so who knows how interested he is....

It's unfortunate that Ige couldn't live up to the new nickname tonight and earn himself a bonus; he upgraded from "50k" Ige to "100 Grand" Dan when Dana announced bonuses would be doubled in the Paramount era, and I thought that was brilliant. 

I also hesitate to sound like Goldilocks by calling this an early stoppage (because I was complaining about late stoppages earlier in the night)....

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….but I do think Ige could've probably made it to his corner after the bell if the ref had let that go a few more seconds. I know he was BADLY rocked, but this is a guy who's never been finished in his career after facing the likes of Diego Lopes, Josh Emmett, Edson Barboza, Lerone Murphy, etc. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought he was still intelligently defending himself at the end there. Oh well.

P.S. This tribute video they played for Bruce Buffer to celebrate his 30th year with the company was awesome….