At the post fight press conference for UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones, UFC President Dana White announced the winners of the “Fight Night” bonuses, handing out $70,000 paydays to four of the evenings competitors. Winners included main card fighter Brendan Schaub, as well as prelim fighters Erik Koch, Edson Barboza and Anthony Njokuani.
UFC 128 took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, with two bouts streaming live on Facebook, another two on Spike TV, and the main card via pay-per-view.
With no submissions occurring on the card, White instead awarded two “Knockout of the Night” bonuses instead, handing awards to both Schaub and Koch.
Schaub eventually won his bonus after fighting into the third round to eventually put away former PRIDE champ Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, landing a right hand sending the Croatian to the mat at 3:44. The win was Schaub’s eight victory and seventh by (T)KO.
Koch earned his in the opening bout of the event, earning his first win under the UFC banner. Koch stopped fellow promotion newcomer Raphael Assunção at 2:32 of the first round by knockout to earn the other “Knockout of the Night” bonus. It’s the second straight KO bonus for Koch, who stopped Francisco Rivera last November at WEC 52 with a head kick.
The “Fight of the Night” bonus was awarded to Edson Barboza and Anthony Njokuani who battled it out for three rounds in the opening Spike TV preliminary bout. It was a back and forth affair until Barboza landed a spinning back-kick in the remaining moments of the match, likely giving him the edge in the third round. Barboza earned a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) to remain undefeated in his career.