UFC is back with another banger-to-be event at the fan-fave “Sin City.” The Noche UFC Pay-per-view card goes down this weekend. Ahead of this, the Official pre-fight Noche Media Day took shape on Thursday. The entire card for the 10-fight lineup was in attendance, along with UFC CEO Dana White. The bossman, as is the theme, has to field some less-than-ideal ‘bonus’ questions.
The live stream of the event began at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT). Dana White and Co. attended media availability questions from the scrum. Soon, a question about a thematic fight bonus was posed to the 55-year-old maverick. Having billed that monetary incentive does not change anything, White promptly shut the question down after the Manchester UFC 304 PPV.
[Laughs and looks on…] Who has the next question?
Dana White during Noche UFC 306 Media Day conference interviews
The UFC handed out bonuses in record amounts after lightweight revert Max Holloway jonesed it out of the top honcho. Three fighters picked up an extra thematic $300,000 for the historic April UFC 300 pay-per-view. Holloway himself made a double-dipped $600K for his 155-pound BMF title win. Brian Ortega asked for the same at UFC 303 Media Day; ‘T-City’ was sadly out of action when it happened. After UFC 303, six fighters logged an additional $50,000 for their performances in Las Vegas.
This included Alex Pereira’s vicious $50K worth of KOTY Candidate. Dana White later added two extra post-fight bonuses. King Green pursued “$100 Gs” easy money against Paddy Pimblett for UFC 304 PPV but fell short of his bonus-making perks. White again forked a $50K performance bonus for Wang Cong for UFC on ESPN: Cannonier vs. Borralho. But now, after two theme increases since April, he says no more.
Fight fans react to Dana White snubbing thematic bonuses for UFC 306
With the promotion investing so much money into this weekend’s PPV, some $20 million is already out the door. The second-ever Noche UFC 306 mega-show has some big names. Sean O’Malley and No. 1 bantamweight title contender Merab Dvalishvili duke it out for championship gold. Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko went down Thursday with another cordial hug-it-out faceoff. After an endless run of faceoffs, Grasso defends her flyweight title against her in their trilogy.
Fans react to Noche post-fight bonus increase scrub (Source: Instagram)After the women’s flyweight co-mains, Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes goes down as yet another interesting scrap. Followed by seven more marquee battles with lots of Mexican talents. Any of those names, especially the top-bill ones, can claim another hefty bonus.
Post-fight bonuses have gone up from set-in-stone $50K to $100,000K and more with increments. However, Dana White is scrubbing the matter of ginormous theme bonus numbers without solid performances. Here is what the MMA Community thinks of it.
The Saudi’s have entered the bonus chat. 💬
— Just_Joking? (@JSPACE_J) September 13, 2024
Maybe if the card was better
— 🌉🎯💯💪🏻T-Dot💰🤑💲🏒🏀🏈⚾🥊 (@6ixSportFanatic) September 13, 2024
Don’t blame him after that England card
— Vernon Token (@vernon_token) September 13, 2024
😭✌️that one dork ass dude saying but only for the Mexicans tf ???
— max (@wowk2827) September 13, 2024
biggest event in ufc history but they can’t afford this ?
— fei (@fyzzi04) September 13, 2024
Some have quipped that flyweight Édgar Cháirez, who fights down the pecking order, made the bonus-making perk requests. However, some have quipped that White and management are in no shape to fork out anymore to any fighters, let alone Mexican standouts.
The obnoxiously high-cost event has been one for ages. So much so that there were initial struggles to sell out the Riyadh Season Noche UFC 306 event without a more solid lineup.
When the card hits the Sphere, Las Vegas, NV venue, it could be one for history. It would be a true Mexican tribute, with staple fighters shining. However, thematic digits aren’t part of that anymore.
