Weigh In Flub Costs Figueiredo $25,000 Reebok Bucks

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.

Brazilian flyweight Deiveson Figueiredo stormed through UFC Norfolk on Saturday night, relentlessly pressuring Joseph Benavidez from the opening bell. He almost broke Benavidez’s arm backwards in the first, and then capitalized off a clash of heads in the second to knock Benavidez out, earning a TKO win 1:54 into the round of their flyweight title fight (watch the finish here).

It was an amazing fight and a rousing success for Figueiredo, who improved his record to 18-1 (7-1 UFC). Unfortunately, the win didn’t earn him the 125 pound strap because “Deus Da Guerra” missed weight by 2.5 pounds, rendering him ineligible for the title.

It also made him ineligible for the UFC’s customary $50,000 performance bonuses, and as it turns out his Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. Also referred to by some (okay, mainly me) as Reebok bucks, Figueiredo was set to make a cool $30,000 as title challenger. But since he wasn’t challenging for the title after the weigh-in flub, it stood to reason that the UFC wouldn’t pay him the challenger’s amount. And they have now confirmed via MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn: instead he’ll earn the comparatively paltry amount of $5000, the standard pay for fighters with 6-10 bouts in the UFC.

So let’s recap what those 2.5 pounds has cost Figueiredo: 30% of his overall purse (Deiveson has never fought for a commission that requires pay disclosure so we have no idea what that amount is), the flyweight title, and now $25,000. It may have cost him his job had he not won the fight. UFC president Dana White took time out of his ‘Now You Know’ social media video to castigate Figueiredo for messing up so bigly.

“Insane! Unprofessional!” White declared. “How do you show up for a title fight and not make weight?”

Now the only question is whether Figueiredo’s performance was enough to keep him in a position to fight for the title in his next bout, or if the UFC will further punish him by forcing a non-title fight at 125 pounds to reassert himself as being able to make flyweight.

Here’s the rest of the Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay figures from UFC Fight Night 169 out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Deiveson Figueiredo: $5,000
def. Joseph Benavidez: $30,000

Felicia Spencer: $3,500
def. Zarah Fairn: $3,500

Magomed Ankalaev: $4,000
def. Ion Cutelaba: $5,000

Megan Anderson: $4,000
def. Norma Dumont: $3,500

Grant Dawson: $3,500
def. Darrick Minner: $3,500

Kyler Phillips: $3,500
def. Gabriel Silva: $3,500

Brendan Allen: $3,500
def. Tom Breese: $5,000

Marcin Tybura: $5,000
def. Serghei Spivac: $3,500

Luis Pena: $5,000
def. Steve Garcia: $3,500

Jordan Griffin: $3,500
def. TJ Brown: $3,500

Spike Carlyle: $3,500
def. Aalon Cruz: $3,500

Sean Brady: $3,500
def. Ismail Naurdiev: $4,000

The total amount paid out for this event: $119,500, which brings 2020’s total Reebok pay up to $826,500. As mentioned above, pay is tied up in number of fights for Zuffa promotions, with $3500 for 1-3 fights, $4000 for 4-5, $5000 for 6-10, $10,000 for 11-15, $15,000 for 16-20, and $20,000 for 21+ fights. Champions get $40,000 per fight and challengers $30,000.