The UFC made its much-anticipated return to English soil after two years with their splendid card featuring former welterweight champion Leon Edwards vs Sean Brady as the main event. However, the hometown hero couldn’t make the home crowd proud due to his loss via a submission to Sean Brady in the main event. After the audience in O2 Arena departed with disappointment, the promotion’s president/CEO, Dana White received an unusual demand.

UFC’s London event was a massive spectacle. It drew 18,583 live audiences, setting a new record of 4.7 million dollar gate, the highest ever for a fight night event. However, despite the event setting new heights with the numbers, the lack of knock-out finishes stung fans like a thorn.

The event definitely had some thrilling moments where it exhilarated the viewers, yet the fights concluded either in decisions or submissions. Out of many voices that pointed out this fact, UFC featherweight Kevin Vallejos decided to directly address the head honcho Dana White on X, mentioning that he’s open to receiving ‘a bonus’ for his last performance.

Kevin emphasized the contrast between the previous fight night ‘Vettori vs Dolidze’ event and the London event, where both the quality and quantity of the knockouts were superior in last week’s Las Vegas event. The previous event had 9 finishes and 5 of them were knockouts. Despite ‘El Chino’ sending his opponent, Song Woo Choi, into the stratosphere with an overhand right, he was not rewarded with a bonus. That’s why he decided to take a dig at Dana White himself.

If he manages to display another staggering knockout, who knows? He might sleep on that bonus 50k dash. Since we are discussing bonuses, let’s see who actually got rewarded for their performances at UFC London.

UFC London: fight of the night and performance bonuses

UFC London was an interesting event to watch. Homeboy Leon Edwards had to face adversities figuring out his opponent Sean Brady’s ultimate grappling prowess, ultimately submitting to a mounted guillotine in the fourth round to conclude the main event.

In the co-main event, emerging contender Carlos Ulberg edged out the returning former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz, Kevin Holland’s return against Gunnar Nelson, and Molly McCann’s retirement from MMA after losing to Alexa Thainara. All of these moments were highlights of the event.

Even so, the event didn’t see any fighters’ heads bouncing off the canvas, the promotion decided to reward Sean Brady, Kevin Holland, Shauna Bannon, and Alexa Thainara with ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses. However, there was no ‘Fight of the Bonus’, which explains that the UFC might felt a little led down by the fights.