After a stunning spinning back elbow finish to cap off the night at Noche UFC on Saturday, it was Diego Lopes doubling up on bonus money at the event.
Lopes put away Fighting Nerd Jean Silva in the Fight Night card’s main event. An adopted Mexican of sorts (a Brazilian fighting out of Mexico), Lopes followed up a title fight loss to Alexander Volkanovski with one of the biggest finishes of his career. Not a bad way to bounce back. As for Silva, he didn’t exactly fight smart, but fought to entertain, and shares in half of the Fight of the Night bonus at Noche UFC. Lopes gets that, plus a Performance of the Night bonus, for $100,000 in total.
That happens to be what fighters on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford boxing card airing later that same night were earning for a single bonus. That card is co-promoted by Zuffa/TKO Boxing, or whatever it winds up being called.
Hopefully, the UFC follows through with a promise to increase bonuses for its own fighters once the Paramount+ deal kicks off in 2026.
The remaining Performance of the Night bonus at Noche UFC in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday went to Santiago Luna. The Mexican made his promotional on the card, and had to overcome some adversity against Quang Le before securing a knockout midway through the opening round.
