Some nights you just have to cut an extra check. UFC 265 was one such night …
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President, Dana White, was feeling a little more generous than usual following UFC 265, handing out two extra $50,000 performance bonus checks.
One of them went to headliner and new UFC interim Heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, and only after the press questioned White as to why his technical knockout finish of Derrick Lewis (watch highlights) wasn’t worthy.
After a moment of consideration, White agreed …
MMA Junkie’s @MMAjunkieJohn just scored @ciryl_gane a $50,000 bonus #UFC265
— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) August 8, 2021
Usually we see a “Fight of the Night” bonus going to both bout participants and then two “Performance”-based bonuses (often split by best knockout and best submission). UFC 265’s “Fight of the Night” award went to the wild, but technical, Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green scrap. And after Gane, the three performance bonuses: one to Jessica Penne, who caught Karolina Kowalkiewicz in a slick armbar (see it here).
Flipping the script!
@JessicaPenne gets the armbar in RD 1! #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/Cc6ktjlT2m
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
Another to Vicente Luque, who managed to d’arce choke Michael Chiesa (watch highlights):
OH MY GOSH!!! @VicenteLuqueMMA just reversed it on him! #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/JTBj7W3j47
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
And the third to Miles Johns, who knocked out an extremely tough Anderson dos Santos on the early “Prelims” undercard (watch it):
Even sweeter in slow-mo
Stream #UFC265 on @ESPNPlus ?? https://t.co/5MaiVRNGuY pic.twitter.com/8IM1GG2cNq
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 7, 2021
If you’re wondering the reason Manel Kape was overlooked for his impressive flying knee knockout of Ode Osbourne (watch it again here), alas … fighters who miss weight are ineligible for performance bonuses, and Kape missed the Flyweight limit of 126 pounds by three pounds.
For complete UFC 265 results and coverage click here.