UFC on ESPN 14 performance bonuses

UFC on ESPN 14, also known as UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs. Till, and UFC Fight Island 3, was held on Saturday, July 25, at the Flash Forum on Fight Island, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

In addition to being paid a fixed amount to show and another, usually equal amount to win, each UFC event also awards four $50,000 Performance Bonuses. Usually, there is a Fight of the Night in which both fighters are given a performance bonus, and a performance bonus to the winner in two fights. At this event, there was no Fight of the Night, and instead, only Performance Bonuses were awarded, and perhaps in a nod the size of the 15-fight card, six bonuses were awarded. "Performance Bonus" means the fight made you go "HOLY F@$%ING $#!@."

One of the primary differences between the UFC model and the boxing model is the depth of the card. Sometimes in MMA the greatest fight isn't the main event, or close to it. At UFC on ESPN 14, the bonuses were split evenly between the main and prelim card, the co-main got none.

The winners are listed in bold below.

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Tanner Boser defeated Raphael Pessoa by TKO (Strikes, Round 2, 2:36)

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Tom Aspinall defeated Jake Collier by TKO (Punches, Round 1, 0:45)

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Jesse Ronson defeated Nicolas Dalby by Submission (RNC, Round 1, 2:48)

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Khamzat Chimaev defeated Rhys McKee by TKO (Strikes, Round 1, 3:09)

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Paul Craig defeated Gadzhimurad Antigulov by Submission (Triangle Choke, Round 1, 2:06)

$50,000 Fight of the Night

Fabricio Werdum defeated Alexander Gustafsson by Submission (Armbar, Round 1, )

In addition, to the bonuses and purses, fighters earn:

•Reebok pay, based on tenure, for wearing the distinctive apparel during fight week and in the Octagon;

•Sometimes fighters get discretionary “locker room” bonuses of varying amounts; despite their name, locker room bonuses actually come in the mail now;

•In some cases there is an LOA [Letter of Agreement] on the contract for additional income; and,

•The most elite fighters get points on the pay per view for PPV events.

The next league event is UFC on ESPN+ 31, also known as UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan, UFC Fight Night 173, and UFC Las Vegas 1, will be held on August 1, at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bonuses are up and they are highly unusual

1 Like

Oh yeah, I forgot about those big Reebok checks. They probably can't wait to get to the bank to cash them. 

Kirik - 

Bonuses are up and they are highly unusual

I suspect Dana has been giving his Fighters pre-fight chats regarding locker room performance bonuses. That would explain the 25 or so knock outs of the last 35 UFC fights weve seen during the pandemic. Most were attributing it to the smaller cage ( not that that hurts either). Only difference is now I guess Dana going to start showing that they’re paying out these bonuses. Just my theory buddy.