UFC 327 bonuses: $200K for Hokit. Cub Swanson’s retirement KO? Meh.

UFC 327 bonuses: $200K for Hokit. Cub Swanson’s retirement KO? Meh.

At this point, the members of the UFC brass who decide the post-fight bonuses are basically trolling people. There’s little other explanation for it.

Rather than publicly reward a UFC Hall of Famer and his first-round knockout in his retirement fight in front of his wife and kids, the UFC instead chose to fall victim to the lure of the attention economy and gave a double bonus to the fighter who drew the most attention during the week — largely for his WWE-like character-driven schtick.

Josh Hokit (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Curtis Blaydes (19-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) had an absolute all-timer that was worthy of Fight of the Night — and some are going to make the case in December for it as Fight of the Year, no doubt. And their $100K each was deserved, without question.

But Hokit got an extra $100,000 for Performance of the Night, and when the other performance bonus rightly went to Carlos Ulberg (14-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) for his rally on virtually one leg to KO Jiri Prochazka (32-6-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) for the light heavyweight title in the main event, it meant other finishes were left with just $25,000 each thanks to Hokit’s double dip.

And that included Cub Swanson (31-14 MMA, 16-10 UFC) and his first-round KO of Nate Landwehr (18-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC), which appeared to be a no-brainer for an emotional $100,000 send-off from the UFC. Instead, Swanson, a fighter who likely never would dream of the ridiculous whoring for attention antics done by Hokit, merely gets a finish bonus.

Check out the bonuses from Kaseya Center in Miami below, and the five other fighters who got $25,000 extra checks for finishes that weren’t bonus-winners.

Fight of the Night: Josh Hokit, Curtis Blaydes ($100,000 each)

Josh Hokit (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Curtis Blaydes (19-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) slugged it out for 15 minutes in a truly back-and-forth and entertaining fight. The Fight of the Night honor was worthy, without question.

Performance of the Night: Carlos Ulberg ($100,000)

Carlos Ulberg (14-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) blew out his knee, it appeared, early against Jiri Prochazka (32-6-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC). And Prochazka wisely kept attacking the one good leg he had left, his left. But Prochazka also appeared to be procrastinating – almost playing with his food, proverbially speaking. He even pointed to the canvas at one point, knowing Ulberg was compromised. And he paid the price. Ulberg wasn’t exactly playing possum, but he caught Prochazka and stunned him, and then put him out cold to win the light heavyweight title in an all-time comeback, essentially on one knee. He won the title – and in a worst-case scenario, could be sidelined well into 2027 if he truly blew out his knee.

Performance of the Night: Josh Hokit ($100,000)

Yeah, it’s a performance from Josh Hokit (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) all right. Is it worth $100,000 extra when that $100K could have gone to Cub Swanson in his retirement fight? Or the highest-ranked female fighter on the card, Tatiana Suarez? Or Vicente Luque’s upset of a 3-1 favorite? Or Paulo Costa becoming the first to beat Azamat Murzakanov? There are very few people in the MMA space who are going to say making Hokit a rare double bonus winner was anything other than a choice made by trying to tap into the attention economy Hokit is going after with his schtick. But that’s the so-called “sport” of MMA in the social media era for you.

Finish bonus: Paulo Costa ($25,000)

Paulo Costa (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) ended the career unbeaten streak of Azamat Murzakanov (16-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in the light heavyweight co-main event, and he did it as one of only two underdog winners on the card. But like the other Brazilian upset winner, his win wasn’t quite good enough to take an extra $100,000 away from Josh Hokit, who apparently is the UFC’s new darling.

Finish bonus: Cub Swanson ($25,000)

Cub Swanson (31-14 MMA, 16-10 UFC) ended his career on an absolute highlight-reel moment when he took out Nate Landwehr (18-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC) with a brutal first-round knockout. An no ifs, ands or buts about it, he absolutely got screwed out of a $100,000 proper bonus in his retirement fight.

Finish bonus: Mateusz Gamrot ($25,000)

Mateusz Gamrot (26-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) was fast and made things look easy against Esteban Ribovics (15-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) and forced him to tap to an arm-triangle choke in the second round. It was Gamrot’s first submission win in nearly five years.

Finish bonus: Tatiana Suarez ($25,000)

Tatiana Suarez (12-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) may have put herself right back into a UFC title fight with a dominant second-round submission win over Loopy Godinez (14-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC). Suarez made it two straight since she lost a decision to former strawweight champion Zhang Weili. Now that Mackenzie Dern is the new champ at 115 pounds, Suarez no doubt will be looking for another crack at the belt.

Finish bonus: Vicente Luque ($25,000)

Vicente Luque (24-12-1 MMA, 17-8 UFC) was an underdog of fairly decent proportions against Kelvin Gastelum (20-11, 14-11 UFC) on the prelims. But the Brazilian caught the former “TUF” winner in the second and was able to take advantage on the canvas with a D’Arce choke in his move back to middleweight after more than a decade at welterweight.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 327 bonuses: $200K for Hokit. Cub Swanson’s retirement KO? Meh.