Nickel and dime! UFC finish and performance bonuses don’t stack, leaving fighters short $25k

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 07: Michael Johnson of the United States reacts as Drew Dober of the United States is declared the winner of their lightweight bout via knockout at T-Mobile Arena on March 07, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The math doesn’t add up on UFC finish bonuses and performance of the night bonuses … because UFC unsurprisingly decided to go the cheap route when it comes to how they work.

At the start of the UFC on Paramount+ era, the promotion revamped their bonus system. $50,000 bonuses for each Fight of the Night athlete plus two $50,000 performance bonuses for best finishes were upgraded to $100,000. And most interesting: the UFC added a blanket $25,000 bonus for every fighter that finished their fight.

There are small, reasonable exceptions. If a fighter misses weight, they’re not eligible for the $25,000 bonus or a performance bonus. Not so reasonable, in our opinion, is news that was just confirmed on how UFC handles the stacking of finish money on top of performance bonuses. Hint: it doesn’t stack, shortchanging the fighters.

“After speaking to multiple sources here’s clarity on the bonuses,” journalist Ariel Helwani wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “If you score a finish (worth $25k) and, say, a performance bonus (worth $100k), you get $100k not $125k. I think many of us, including me, assumed the latter. It’s basically the greater of two bonuses.”

A Fight of the Night bonus with a finish also only nets a fighter $100k not $125k. At least the $100,000 bonuses stack.

“If you win a fight of the night bonus (worth $100k) and score a finish and earn a performance bonus, too, you get $200k not $225.”

Let’s be clear: the new upgrades to the bonus system were long overdue. Fighters had been left to beg for the same $50,000 bonuses since 2013. And those coming in on $10k/$10k contracts had to rely on the UFC picking them over higher visibility fighters in order to make more than a Wal-Mart cashier off two fights in a year. The UFC just went from a $550 million a year broadcast with ESPN to $1.1 billion with Paramount/CBS. Fighters make just 15% of all the company revenue.

Doubling the performance bonuses and instituting blanket finish pay was the least the UFC could do. And now we’re learning that, actually, those performance bonuses for finishing are only making $75,000 above the base finish pay? It stinks of TKO accounting, where they’ve never seen a number on their fighter expense sheet they weren’t looking to round down on.