Khamzat Chimaev and Ilia Topuria were both rewarded handsomely for pulling off nigh-impossible feats.
The two headlining bouts of UFC 308 on Saturday produced two of the most shocking finishes in recent memory, with Chimaev submitting Robert Whittaker with a brutal, jaw-breaking submission, and Topuria successfully defending his title in the main event with a third-round knockout of the legendary Max Holloway.
Both fighters were awarded with $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses, UFC CEO Dana White announced at the post-fight press conference.
Chimaev became just the second fighter ever to submit Whittaker and the first since October 2011, before Whittaker was even in the UFC. As for Topuria, he became the first fighter to score a knockout victory over Holloway, a former UFC champion and a veteran of 34 pro bouts.
UFC 308 was an action-packed night and White’s team saw fit to hand out an extra Performance of the Night bonus, this one going to Shara Magomedov, popularly known as “Shara Bullet.”
The undefeated middleweight opened the main card with a thrilling knockout of Armen Petrosyan that saw him throw consecutive spinning backfists to put Petrosyan down for the count.
Fight of the Night went to a preliminary battle between Mateusz Rebecki and Myktybek Orolbai.
Rebecki and Orolbai brutalized each other for three rounds, with Orolbai in particular looking worse for wear as his right eye swelled to a ridiculous size. In the end, Rebecki won a split decision, though both men leave Abu Dhabi with well-deserved bonuses.
One noticeable omission from the bonus list was light heavyweight Ibo Alsan, who needed just 51 seconds to punch out Raffael Cerqueira. Though White said they wouldn’t give out a sixth $50,000 bonus, he assured that Aslan would receive a bonus of an undisclosed amount.