UFC president Dana White was so impressed with the fighters at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night that he awarded an unprecedented six post-fight UFC 268 bonuses.
The Fight of the Night award was no surprise at all, even though there were several good fights to choose from. Both championship fights were competitive affairs that went the distance, but the UFC 268 opener between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler took the honors.
Gaethje and Chandler battled it out in and old-fashioned slobber knocker for three rounds. The two lightweight standouts went toe to toe for the duration with Gaethje winning a unanimous decision. Both men earned an extra $50,000, but Gaethje also inched closer to another UFC lightweight title shot.
Bantamweight Marlon Vera scored one of the biggest and most impressive victories of his career at Madison Square Garden with his third-round knockout of former UFC champion Frankie Edgar. The win put him atop the five individual Performance of the Night bonuses.
Alex Pereira earned his bonus with a blistering finish of Andreas Michailidis early in the second round of the UFC 268 preliminary card feature bout.
The other Performance of the Night bonuses went to Bobby Green and Chris Barnett, both of whom had outstanding finishes in their preliminary bouts.
UFC 268 bonuses
- Fight of the Night: Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Chandler
- Performance of the Night: Marlon Vera
- Performance of the Night: Alex Pereira
- Performance of the Night: Bobby Green
- Performance of the Night: Chris Barnett
Complete UFC 268 Event Coverage
UFC 268 gate and attendance: ‘It was a complete sellout’
The UFC returned to Madison Square Garden for the fifth time in five years with Saturday night’s UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2. There is a reason that they keep returning to New York, the fights sell well there.
The UFC 268 gate and attendance was a solid case in point. The event drew an attendance of 20,715 for a gate of $9.9 million dollars. According to UFC president Dana White it was “a complete sellout.”
“It was the fourth highest gate in MSG history. We’re number one and number four here.”
UFC 268 bonuses: Gaethje and Chandler top list of six bonus winners