On this day in 2022, a lot of bonuses were handed out at the final PPV event of the year.
Dana White has confirmed that fighter pay will increase as a result of the promotion’s US broadcast deal with Paramount that gets underway in 2026.
While he hasn’t shared details, many have pushed for some time for the post-fight bonuses that are awarded to be higher from the start of next year.
This has been implemented for events in the past, though White felt burned after doing this for UFC 304 last year only for the card to not live up to expectations.
One event in recent history saw the promotion break its usual pattern of bonuses, not in terms of how much they are worth, but with the quantity that was awarded.
Dana White awarded every UFC 282 fighter that got a finish a bonus
UFC 282 on December 10 of 2022 is widely remembered for the two fights that topped the bill.
Dana White admitted to zoning out of Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalaev after the two men fought to a draw in their clash to crown a new light heavyweight champion, leaving the UFC with an issue.
Paddy Pimblett has since admitted that he was “lucky” to beat Jared Gordon in the co-main event, with the fight producing one of the most controversial outcomes in some time.
However, what might have been forgotten is that up until the two decisions that ended the night, each and every bout had ended in a finish.
As a result, the promotion chose to award every fighter that got a finish a Performance of the Night bonus, meaning that it made history for the most bonuses given out at a single event with 11.
The only fighter who got a bonus despite not winning was Darren Till, whose loss to Dricus du Plessis was awarded the Fight of the Night bonus.
Among these bonus winners was the history-making Raul Rosas Jr., whose submission win over Jay Perrin in the featured prelim made him the youngest fighter to win a bout inside the Octagon at 18 years old.