UFC 242 bonuses: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Belal Muhammad among bonus winners

The UFC announced the bonus winners following the conclusion of UFC 242, and Khabib Nurmagomedov was among those collecting a $50,000 bonus check.

Nurmagomedov finished Dustin Poirier in the third round of the main event to improve to 28-0 in his MMA career. Unsurprisingly, he won a bonus award for Performance of the Night for his vicious rear-naked choke finish of Poirier.

The UFC handed out three other Performance of the Night bonuses. Check out the winners below.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1170454963874451456

Welterweight Belal Muhammad had a great showing against Takashi Sato, finishing his opponent in the third round via rear-naked choke. Muhammad improved to 7-3 in his UFC career, and this was the first submission win of his career.

Ottman Azaitar had an incredible UFC debut by finishing Teemu Packalen with a brutal KO in the first round of their preliminary card featherweight bout. Azaitar is now a perfect 12-0 in his MMA career and could be put on the fast track after this knockout win.

Finally, Muslim Salikhov won a bonus for his first-round knockout win over Nordine Taleb. Salikhov is now 2-1 in the UFC.

Because the UFC handed out four Performance of the Night bonuses, there was no award for Fight of the Night. Many believed that the co-main event between Paul Felder and Edson Barboza should have won the award, but the UFC chose to go with four Performance of the Night bonuses in lieu of a Fight of the Night bonus.

As for snubs, heavyweight Curtis Blaydes didn’t get a bonus for his second-round TKO win over Shamil Abdurakhimov. Women’s bantamweight Sarah Moras also finished her fight via TKO against Liana Jojua, but was ineligible to win a bonus check after she missed weight by coming in at 138lbs.

Do you agree with the UFC 242 bonus winners or do you think someone else should have received a bonus?