UFC president Dana White awarded bonuses of $60,000 to fighters Conor McGregor, Reza Madadi, Brad Pickett and Mike Easton following today’s UFC on FUEL TV 9 event.
White broke his promotions new rule of awarding $50,000 bonuses by telling the media at the post-fight press conference that the “Fight Night” winners should award part of their bonuses to Diego Brandao. Brandao had apparently successfully negotiated for bigger bonuses with the UFC president during his ‘pre-game’ speech to the fighters.
UFC on FUEL TV 9: Mousasi vs. Latifi took place at the Ericksson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
The UFC pres announced an attendance of 14,506 and a live gate of $2,710,530. The attendance was slightly lower than the UFC’s first visit one year ago at UFC on FUEL TV 2 which drew 15,428 fans with a slightly lower gate of $2.23 million.
“Knockout of the Night” went to McGregor, with “Submission of the Night” going to Madadi, and “Fight of Night” went to Pickett and Easton.
Irish fighter Conor McGregor made his Octagon debut versus Marcus Brimage and wasted little time by picking up a TKO finish at 67-seconds into the first. McGregor took a few punches from Brimage before finding his range and following it up for the finish.
Madadi faced off with Michael Johnson in a back and forth battle. Madadi would take a kick to the head in the first and was almost finished by Johnson but managed to survive the round. The two would battle into the third and Madadi would find himself in top control toying with Johnson. As Johnson would move to defend himself, Madadi would sink in a D’Arce choke to force the tap earning his second straight victory.
Pickett and Easton battled for three rounds, trading on their feet and on the ground. The hard hitting Englishman would earn scores of 30-27 and 30-27 from the judges while Easton was awarded a 29-28 from the third judge. Picket picked up the split decision, erasing a split decision loss to Eddie Wineland in his last fight.