UFC 280 Bonus Report: Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan earn ‘FOTN’ honors

The Octagon returned to Abu Dhabi for today’s UFC 280 event, a twelve-bout fight card headlined by Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev.

Tonight’s highly anticipated lightweight title fight resulted in a coming out party for Makhachev. The Russian standout was able to hurt Charles Oliveira in the standup on two occasions, the second of which resulted in ‘Do Bronx’ dropping to the canvas in round two. From there, Islam would secure a head and arm choke which forced ‘Do Bronx’ to tapout. Check out the unbelievable finish here.

The co-main event of UFC 280 featured a men’s bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw. The bout proved to be a one-sided contest. Dillashaw had his shoulder pop out early in the opening round and was never able to recover from the injury. Sterling was able to take the fight to the floor with relative ease and proceeded to ground and pound ‘Killashaw’ on route to a second round TKO victory. The win marked Sterling’s second career title defense and potentially sets him up with a fight against Sean O’Malley his nex time out.

Following the conclusion of today’s event, UFC officials announced at the post-fight press conference that four fighters would be taking home performance bonuses.

Fight of the night: Bantamweight fighters Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan each pocketed an extra $50k for their thrilling back and forth war on today’s UFC 280 main card. ‘Suga’ wound up winning the contest by way of split decision, although many pros did not agree with that result (see more on that here).

Performance of the night: Belal Muhammad earned an extra $50k for his TKO victory over Sean Brady in today’s featured prelim (see that here).

Performance of the night: Islam Makhachev pocketed an extra $50k for his second-round submission victory over Charles Oliveira in today’s pay-per-view headliner.

Are you surprised by any of the performance bonuses handed out by Dana White and company following the conclusion of tonight’s UFC 280 event in Abu Dhabi? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!