UFC 308 Bonus Report: Ilia Topuria one of five fighters to take home an extra $50k

The Octagon returned to Abu Dhabi for today’s UFC 308 event and five fighters ended up walking home with performance bonuses.

The pay-per-view fight card was headlined by a featherweight title fight featuring Max Holloway challenging Ilia Topuria. The contest proved to be a thrilling back and forth affair for as long as it lasted. Ilia Topuria seemed to struggle to find his range in the opening rounds due to the Hawaiian’s height advantage and movement. However, he eventually found a home for his big right hand and ended up dropping Max Holloway in the early moments of round 3. Although Max got back to his feet and started firing back punches, Topuria kept his foot on the gas and eventually connects with a massive left hook that sent ‘Blessed’ crashing to the canvas (see that here). Some follow up shots were all the referee needed to see to call a stop to the contest.

UFC 308 was co-headlined by a highly anticipated middleweight matchup between former division title holder Robert Whittaker taking on the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. The bout resulted in a dominant showing from Khamzat Chimaev. The undefeated contender was able to take Robert Whittaker to the ground in the early seconds of the fight and proceeded to smother and overwhelm the former champion on the canvas. Eventually, ‘Borz’ locked in a choke which apparently dislocated the jaw of ‘The Reaper’. Whittaker quickly tapped out and now Chimaev is right in the title picture at 185lbs.

Following the conclusion of tonight’s event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that five fighters would be taking home an extra $50k.

Fight of the night: Lightweight fighters Myktybek Orolbai and Mateusz Rębecki each pocketed $50k for their thrilling war on today’s UFC 308 preliminary card. Rebecki ultimately won the contest by split decision.

Performance of the night: Khamzat Chimaev earned an extra $50k for his first-round submission victory over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in today’s c0-main event (see that here).

Performance of the night: Ilia Topuria pocketed an extra $50k for his third-round knockout victory over Max Holloway in today’s event headliner. ‘El Matador’ became the first man to KO the Hawaiian inside of the Octagon.

Performance of the night: Shara Magomedov earned an extra $50k for his second-round knockout victory over Armen Petrosyan (see that here).

Are you surprised by any of the performance bonuses handed out by Dana White and company following the conclusion of today’s UFC 308 event? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!