The bonuses for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 117 event have been revealed following an awesome card that featured several highlight-reel finishes. In the main event, Arnold Allen won a decision over Melquizael Costa.
ESPN’s Carlos Legaspi posted the bonuses on X.
Fight of the Night ($100,000 to each): Dooho Choi and Daniel Santos
The Fight of the Night was given to Dooho Choi and Daniel Santos for their featherweight war in the co-main event. After a strong first round by Santos, Choi began to really take over in the second round and then finished off Santos with strikes for the win. It was Choi’s third straight win, and it could land him a top-15-ranked opponent for his next fight.
For their FOTN performances, Choi and Santos each earned $100,000. It will be interesting to see if Choi can stick to a more regular schedule going forward, as he is a fantastic fighter who is always must-watch TV when he is active, and one who is already a member of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Performance of the Night ($100,000): Juan Diaz
Also on the man card, Juan Diaz had an amazing UFC debut to remember with a second-round submission win over Malcolm Wellmaker. Diaz earned a $100,000 POTN bonus.
Diaz, who won a UFC contract after an amazing win on Dana White’s Contender Series last summer with a spinning back elbow knockout, beat up Wellmaker in the first round with strikes before taking him down to the mat in the second and then finishing him by submission.
It was an incredible performance by Diaz, who looks like a serious bantamweight prospect.
Performance of the Night ($100,000): Alice Ardelean
On the preliminary card, Alice Ardelean pulled off a first with a Capsule Lock submission win over Polyana Viana. This is the first time in UFC history that a fighter has ever won a fight with this move, so Ardelean is well deserving of this bonus. In fact, she has won bonuses in two of her last three fights, as she won Fight of the Night two fights ago against Rayanne dos Santos.
Overall, it was an amazing performance by Ardelean, and she is likely to fight someone in the top-15 rankings at women’s 115 lbs after such a great win. She got a $100,000 POTN bonus for her fantastic win.
Finish Bonus ($25,000 to each): Benardo Sopaj, Khaos Williams, Tommy Gannt, Cody Brundage, Nicolle Caliari
For the fighters who didn’t get the $100,000 bonuses but who had finishes, they will have to make do with a $25,000 finishing bonus, which is still a nice consolation prize.
Benardo Sopaj had a terrific performance against Timmy Cuamba, taking him out by second-round submission. Khaos Williams, meanwhile, finished Nikolay Veretennikov in the first round with punches. Tommy Gantt, meanwhile, won his UFC debut with a second-round TKO over Artur Minev. Cody Brundage also had a second-round finish with a knockout win over Andrei Petroski. And Nicolle Caliari kicked off the card with a third-round submission win over Shauna Bannon. All of these fighters won $25,000 for getting a finish.
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