Dana White was uncertain which of the matchups at UFC 303 may end up stealing the show on Saturday night, so as a result, he’ll hand out two Fight of the Night bonuses.
The UFC CEO decided to toss out an extra $100,000 ($50,000 to each fighter) after he was asked about the potential difficulty he faced in choosing only one outstanding fight on the card that caps off International Fight Week 2024. As a result, White promised to hand out two Fight of the Night bonuses, which only ups the ante for the athletes competing on the card.
“Yeah, f*ck it, I’ll do it,” White said to the approval of a raucous crowd in Las Vegas.
UFC featherweight Brian Ortega tried to get even more money out of White when he suggested $303,000 bonuses — a reference to White opting to hand out historic $300,000 bonuses at UFC 300 back in April.
But White’s charity was only going so far.
“Not $303,000, but two bonuses,” White said with a laugh.
On the main card alone, the 10 fighters competing at UFC 303 have combined for 11 Fight of the Night bonuses, with Ortega leading the list with five for his UFC career. Every single fighter on the main card has earned at least one performance bonus outside of Michael Page, who only has one UFC bout after spending most of his career in Bellator.
With the extra Fight of the Night bonus being awarded, the main card and preliminary fighters definitely have something to earn come Saturday night.
