The UFC handed out four bonuses after Saturday’s card in “Sin City” – one to each fighter with a finish.
After UFC 326, four fighters picked up an extra $100,000 for their performances at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. By not awarding a Fight of the Night, the UFC avoided having to pay out extra checks for finishes that weren’t bonus-winners.
By means of comparison, had the UFC given Fight of the Night to, for example, Cody Garbrandt and Xiao Long for $100,000 each, it then would have had to pay $25,000 each in finish bonuses to two of the four finishers who didn’t get Performance of the Night. But sans a Fight of the Night award, the promotion only had to hand out $400,000 in bonus money at UFC 326 instead of $450,000. But hey, times are tough, right?
Check out the list below.
Performance of the Night: Rodolfo Bellato ($100,000)
Rodolfo Bellato (13-3-1 MMA, 2-1-1 UFC) was struggling against Luke Fernandez (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the first half of the opening round. But out of nowhere, Bellato drilled Fernandez with a short left hook that put him on the canvas. He pounced on him and delivered dozens of short ground-and-pound shots to get the finish in his first fight since a move to the vaunted American Top Team camp.
Performance of the Night: Alberto Montes ($100,000)
Alberto Montes (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) came into his UFC debut with high expectations, but also an accomplished opponent in Ricky Turcios (12-6 MMA, 2-4 UFC), an “Ultimate Fighter” winner.” But early in the second round, Montes made use of one of his favorite chokes and tapped Turcios with an anaconda for a stellar opening bout in the promotion.
Performance of the Night: Gregory Rodrigues ($100,000)
Gregory Rodrigues (19-6 MMA, 10-3 UFC) lost to Brunno Ferreira (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) a few years back, so avenging that loss was of utmost importance in his career for him to take the rematch. He threw a right hand bomb about 100 seconds into the fight, put Ferreira on his butt, and that was that.
Performance of the Night: Drew Dober ($100,000)
Drew Dober (29-15 MMA, 15-11 UFC) became the most prestigious knockout artist in UFC lightweight history when he starched Michael Johnson (24-20 MMA, 16-16 UFC) in the second round of their main card fight. There were rumors all day that the fight would be pulled because of strange betting line movement, but the fight went on – and Dober, who started fight week as the underdog, but closed as a 2-1 favorite, is $100K richer for it.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 326 bonuses: Dober, Rodrigues, Montes, Bellato get $100,000 each