Cage Warriors to Implement $2,000 “Bounties” For 10 Highlight Reel Finishes


(I thought of two captions for this photo and can’t decide between them, so I’m just going to use both.
Caption 1: By my count, this guy just earned 350 thousand dollars.)
Caption 2: And they’ll toss in an extra 5k if you steal your opponent’s bones!)

You gotta hand it to the guys over at Cage Warriors, the longstanding London-based fight promotion holding its 70th event (!) in Dublin this weekend: They are not afraid to make a rule change on the fly. In a sport that often seems incapable of establishing or objectively enforcing necessary rules and guidelines, you gotta appreciate a promotion with actual decisiveness.

Back in May, the organization raised some eyebrows when it attempted to combat a string of weigh-in failures by implementing an extraordinary 60% fine to any fighter who missed weight moving forward. It has been *incredibly* effective thus far. And now, Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan has announced the addition of $2,000 “bounties” for any fighter who scores a unique finish in the cage (via MMAJunkie):

Starting with Cage Warriors 70, which takes place Saturday in Dublin, any fighter on the promotion’s cards who ends a fight with one of 10 of what it has deemed to be the rarest of finishes will earn a $2,000 bonus.

Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan revealed the new bonus plan to MMAjunkie on Friday and said the awards will be available to any fighter on the card, regardless of their placement on the show.

The $2,000 “bounty” will be available for the following finishes: Head kick knockout, twister, knee bar, heel hook, gogoplata, flying knee knockout, Superman punch knockout, knockout in less than 60 seconds, spinning knockout and slam knockout.


(I thought of two captions for this photo and can’t decide between them, so I’m just going to use both.
Caption 1: By my count, this guy just earned 350 thousand dollars.)
Caption 2: And they’ll toss in an extra 5k if you steal your opponent’s bones!)

You gotta hand it to the guys over at Cage Warriors, the longstanding London-based fight promotion holding its 70th event (!) in Dublin this weekend: They are not afraid to make a rule change on the fly. In a sport that often seems incapable of establishing or objectively enforcing necessary rules and guidelines, you gotta appreciate a promotion with actual decisiveness.

Back in May, the organization raised some eyebrows when it attempted to combat a string of weigh-in failures by implementing an extraordinary 60% fine to any fighter who missed weight moving forward. It has been *incredibly* effective thus far. And now, Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan has announced the addition of $2,000 “bounties” for any fighter who scores a unique finish in the cage (via MMAJunkie):

Starting with Cage Warriors 70, which takes place Saturday in Dublin, any fighter on the promotion’s cards who ends a fight with one of 10 of what it has deemed to be the rarest of finishes will earn a $2,000 bonus.

Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan revealed the new bonus plan to MMAjunkie on Friday and said the awards will be available to any fighter on the card, regardless of their placement on the show.

The $2,000 “bounty” will be available for the following finishes: Head kick knockout, twister, knee bar, heel hook, gogoplata, flying knee knockout, Superman punch knockout, knockout in less than 60 seconds, spinning knockout and slam knockout.

“This is for every Cage Warriors event moving forward,” Boylan told MMAjunkie.

Honestly, I love this idea. I maybe wouldn’t refer to these bonuses as “bounties,” but this isn’t the NFL, and I OK with bribery if it equates to more superman punches being thrown. Every single MMA movie has contained at least 4 such punches, and I think its about time that life started imitating art. Also, principles: I do not have them.

The only aspect of this plan that I think needs improving is that the difficulty of each finish should be reflected in its bounty. A twister or gogoplata? You get the full $2,000. A knockout in under 60 seconds? Welcome to every heavyweights gameplan ever (I know Cage Warriors doesn’t have a heavyweight division, but you get the point).

But what do you think, Nation? Is the idea of “bounties” a wickedly clever one, or does it make a sport where people already get paid to beat the ever-loving shit out of each other seem…barbaric?

–J. Jones