Dana White had been persuaded to increase post-fight bonuses on recent pay-per-view cards, but after a disappointing night at UFC 304, he stopped short of doing so.
During the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, lightweight contender King Greene offered a $100,000 bonus for the event, and Whyte accepted to rapturous applause from the Manchester fans. He kept his promise, handing over the $400,000 bonus on Saturday, but UFC 304 didn't go as he expected.
The card featured 28 fighters and had a total of nine decisions and seven straight decisions from the early prelims to the first two bouts on the main card, which left White bitter and sent a message to fighters to stop asking for more bonuses because he's not going to do it anymore.
“Tonight, we [give out bigger bonuses]”You step up a level and nothing changes. Nobody's going to fight harder. Nothing changes. I'm never doing this again. Ever. Today is the last day I do this,” White said at the UFC 304 post-fight press conference.
“I'm not saying there will be no bonuses in the future. [bigger in general]”But I'm not going to say, '$200,000, $300,000,' at a press conference. Never again. Never again. Thank you to everyone on this card.”
There were some exciting finishes, with Paddy Pimblett finishing off Green and Tom Aspinall beating Curtis Blaydes inside 60 seconds, but the rest of the card didn't live up to White's expectations.
White felt nothing special about the fighters who could have stolen the show and taken home an extra $100,000, and he also scoffed at the idea that the event's late hour caused any performances to suffer, even though the main card began just after 3 a.m. local time.
“Nobody had ever fought that hard,” White said. “There was no sense of urgency, like, 'Oh my God, I want $100,000.' Seven times in a row. [decisions]Who cares? [that it’s nearly 7 a.m.]It's already 7pm in Vegas. Whatever. I'm never doing it again. Seven shitty decisions in a row.
“$100,000 was a really big deal. [incentive]Yay, let's do it, guys! Don't do that, I'll never do it again.
