Regular UFC fans are well aware of the post-fight bonus system. Some more devoted followers of the best MMA promotion may also have heard of discretionary bonuses that fighters have been given over the years.
But while the recipients of Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night, announced at the completion of each event for standout endeavors, will each take home an announced $ 50,000, little is known about the discretionary bonuses.
Speaking to The Post on Wednesday, Dana White brought up a topic he doesn’t typically discuss: money, especially the amounts that go to his hunter stable. That included shedding some light on discretionary bonuses.
For most of the 41 events held in 2020, four $ 50,000 “of the Night” bonuses were awarded. Five were awarded twice and six were awarded at a particularly action-packed UFC at ESPN event in July starring middleweights Robert Whittaker and Darren Till. That equates to a total of $ 8.4 million in announced bonus money.
But the UFC also told The Post that the total bonus payout for the pandemic-stricken calendar year was $ 18 million, including the previously announced bonuses. Then $ 9.6 million remains.
White said the common practice is that for “anyone who delivers the card, I’ll write a check” that ranges from $ 4,000 to $ 25,000 each, “depending on what I thought of their fight.”
“I’ll give you an example,” White said. ‘There comes a night when a crazy st happens throughout the menu, and then we have to choose what we thought [were] the $ 50,000 [bonus recipients], but someone else was right in the running. They could have got it too. And it depends, I’ll be writing them anywhere from $ 10,000 to $ 25,000. “
With 456 fights in the octagon last year – and two fighters per fight, of course – the average discretionary bonus comes in at about $ 10,526 per fighter, per fight.
The announced bonuses have been set at $ 50,000 since early 2013, when White said the UFC wanted to standardize the figure that generally ranged from $ 40,000 to $ 75,000 in 2011 and 2012; on three occasions in 2011, the amount reached or exceeded $ 100,000.
White told MMA Junkie in 2013 that the reason for standardizing the value of the bonuses, which he described as “a gift,” was in the spirit of fairness to fighters who were not scheduled for a larger bonus amount to be distributed evening.
“It was fair to keep them completely straight, so no matter what card you’re fighting on, it’s the same bonus,” White said at the time, adding that “no one ever complained about” the imbalance in the amounts from fight card to fight card.
Unlike Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night, the individual discretionary bonus allocation is not made public. Fighters rarely bring up the drill, although in rare cases they provide a snapshot of how these bonuses come about. After accidentally defiling herself in a 2017 loss to Felice Herrig, Justine told Kish how White reached out the next day to check in, she probably realized what she called ‘a little bit of humiliation behind what was happening’ and suggested that an extra bonus is coming her way.
“The other nice thing is that Dana hinted that I have a discretionary bonus, that is, a gift, for my performance,” Kish said in the days following the fight against The Domenick Nati Show. So UFC is really good at giving out little secret bonuses – for me anyway – here and there. … I didn’t ask, and I didn’t wait how much it’s going to be or anything, so we’ll see. “
White confirmed to The Post that he is generally reluctant to disclose the amounts paid out to fighters, saying he opposed advancements from UFC employees to be more forthright about money discussing.
“Obviously, there is a lot of money involved and, believe me, a lot of people, including people who work for me, said, ‘If only you would say publicly what you’re doing’, and I say, ‘but it can be done. I don’t care. White said. “It’s nobody’s business what these guys make.”