UFC President Dana White was in a good mood tonight! The UFC maestro handed out a Performance of the Night bonus to every fighter who got a finish at UFC 282. This included a total of 10 fighters, with UFC shelling out $500,000 for POTY bonuses alone.
Santa came early, as these 9 fighters are leaving #UFC282 with a POTN bonus 🤑🎅
[ 1/9 | B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/3CMCPeyKVb
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
[ 3/9 | #UFC282 | B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/xgBQahidun
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
[ 5/9 | #UFC282 | B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/MIGvQv87zq
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
[ 7/9 | #UFC282 | B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/NXeMUk2qhY
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
[ 9/9 | #UFC282 | B2YB @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/jzwhqiC61O
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
The Fight of Night bonus went to Darren Till vs Dricus du Plessis, the latter taking home $100,000 in bonuses alone. Along with that, White also stated he would give Alex Morono his win money for taking the fight on short notice against Santiago Ponzinibbio. Morono lost the fight via KO in the third round.
Dana White revealed UFC 282 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas did a gate of $4.4 million, with 18,455 fans in attendance. This ranks UFC 282 as the 14th-highest UFC event in the history of T-Mobile Arena. There have been a total of 23 events held inside the Las Vegas arena.
In a historic card, Raul Rosas Jr. also received his first performance of the night bonus award on his UFC debut as he submitted Jay Perrin in the very first round. Needless to say, Rosas is going to get that minivan for his mom that he mentioned during his post-fight Octagon interview. Edmen Shahbazyab also picked up his first POTY bonus award with a sensational victory over Dalcha Lungiambula.
Paddy Pimblett misses out on UFC bonus for the first time in his UFC career
Missing out on the 50k was British fighter Paddy Pimblett, who picked up a controversial unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon in the co-main event of UFC 282. The lightweight contender went to the distance for the first time in his UFC career and looked lackluster in his performance against the MMA veteran.
Fans and fighters alike felt Pimblett lost the fight, with the likes of Nate Diaz, and Gilbert Burns chiming in to express their views on social media. Meanwhile, for the fifth time in the history of the company, a title fight ended in a draw after Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a split decision draw in a fight for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev is just the 5th draw in UFC championship history.
It joins Uno-Penn, Edgar-Maynard, Woodley-Thompson, and Figueiredo-Moreno.
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
The #UFC282 main event ends in a split draw. pic.twitter.com/ym9PvdFgDs
— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2022
UFC 282 was an exciting event, with as many as 10 finishes. While some results were not what fans would have expected, it still turned out to be an exciting UFC PPV.