Dana White wasn't sure which UFC 303 bout would steal the show on Saturday night, which led to him awarding two Fight of the Night bonuses.
The UFC CEO decided to hand out an extra $100,000 ($50,000 to each fighter) after being asked about the potential difficulty of picking just one notable bout from the card that will close International Fight Week in 2024. As a result, White has promised to hand out two Fight of the Night bonuses, which only raises the stakes for the athletes competing on the card.
“Yeah, whatever, I'll do it,” White said, to the approval of a raucous Las Vegas crowd.
UFC featherweight Brian Ortega tried to extract even more money from White by proposing a $303,000 bonus, noting that White opted to hand out a historic $300,000 bonus at UFC 300 in April.
But White's philanthropy only went so far.
“It's not $303,000, it's two bonuses,” White said with a laugh.
On the main card alone, the 10 fighters competing at UFC 303 have earned a combined 11 Fight of the Night bonuses, led by Ortega with five in his UFC career. Every fighter on the main card has earned at least one performance bonus, with the exception of Michael Page, who has only fought once at UFC after spending most of his career in Bellator.
Additional Fight of the Night bonuses will be awarded, so fighters on the main card and in the prelims should be able to win something on Saturday night.
