UFC 269 was very much a “home run” according to Dana White, and the promotion rewarded a number of fighters accordingly.
During White’s post-fight press conference, the UFC President revealed that a full eight fighters from Saturday’s final PPV event of 2021 were awarded post-fight bonuses.
Among them, Dominick Cruz and Pedro Munhoz, who took home Fight of the Night after a thrilling three-round bantamweight battle. Early on, it appeared Munhoz’s heavy hands might put former champ Cruz away. Cruz was battered senseless, surviving on sheer instinct alone after being knocked down in the opening round. But the veteran regrouped and managed to win the following two rounds, taking home a unanimous decision on the scorecards.
Performance of the Night bonuses were handed out to six fighters, rather than the usual two. Those included Julianna Pena, who shocked everyone but herself and her team by battering then submitting the seemingly untouchable Amanda Nunes to claim bantamweight gold in the co-main event. Charles Oliveira, who submitted Dustin Poirier in the final fight of the evening, also picked up a Performance bonus.
The remaining four Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC 269 went to Bruno Silva, Tai Tuivasa, Kai Kara-France, and Sean O’Malley.
Silva flattened Jordan Wright on the preliminary card, while Tai Tuivasa put away Augusto Sakai. On the main card, Kai Kara-France made Cody Garbrandt’s flyweight debut a memorable one — for all the wrong reasons, at least if you’re Garbrandt. He finished the former bantamweight champ via TKO in the opening round.
Sean O’Malley also picked up a first round finish, stopping Raulian Paiva with pinpoint accuracy for the TKO victory. With that win, the “unranked champion” may find himself ranked later this week.
All eight fighters will take home an extra $50,000 for their efforts at UFC 269. Attendance at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was 18,471.
