UFC 263 with one of the most successful fight cards of the year, with big performances from Israel Adesanya, Brandon Moreno, and Nate Diaz; among others.
Adesanya earned a big paycheck after dominating top middleweight contender Marvin Vettori in his latest title defense; getting the win by unanimous decision and made a half-million dollars in the process.
Adesanya left Glendale with $500,000 for his efforts, while fan-favorite Nate Diaz earned $250,000 despite the loss to top welterweight contender Leon Edwards by unanimous decision. There’s no question that Diaz had the bigger cheering squad at Gila River Arena, but it was Edwards who came away with the dominant win outside of a late flurry by Diaz in the last minute of the bout.
In one of the most highly-anticipated fights of the night, Moreno came away with the UFC flyweight title; pulling off the upset over incumbent champion Deiveson Figueiredo by way of submission. Moreno earned $200,000 including a $100,000 win bonus while Figueiredo earned $210,000.
Moreno, Paul Craig, Drew Dober, and Brad Riddell earned performance bonuses that included Fight of the Night between Dober and Riddell, as well as Performance of the Night from Moreno and Craig. In a light heavyweight main card bout, Craig earned a brutal submission over Jamahal Hill in which Hill ended up dislocating his arm.
UFC 263 earned over 600 thousand pay-per-view buys and is the third-highest earning pay-per-view of Adesanya’s career as the UFC middleweight champion.
While the numbers from UFC 263 are certainly impressive, UFC 264 is expected to potentially shatter records with the highly-anticipated showdown between lightweights Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier in the main event. The recent bad blood between the two is expected to add more intrigue to the trilogy in a massive fight in the UFC’s lightweight division.
What were your overall thoughts on the UFC 263 card?