Drakkar Klose Reveals Why He Had to Write an Apology to Receive UFC Bonus

😳💰 Drakkar Klose once had to write an apology letter to the UFC so he could receive his $50,000 bonus after shouting out a gambling site in his post-fight interview.

(via @TimwelchMT) pic.twitter.com/jevHzdl5sH

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 14, 2025

Drakkar Klose once nearly missed out on a UFC bonus for advertising a brand. 

Klose earned his second-ever $50,000 bonus with a slam knockout over Joe Solecki at UFC Austin in 2023. Klose gave a shoutout to betting site Stake.com in his post-fight Octagon interview, for which he had been offered $10,000. However, little did he know that it would almost ended up costing him his bonus. 

Klose was informed not to mention betting sites during the fighter meeting ahead of the fight. However, he didn’t think shouting out Stake.com would be an issue because they were official betting partners of the UFC. But the promotion was not pleased, and Klose had to write an apology to walk home with the bonus amount.

“I almost didn’t get my bonus when I had said Stake.com. I had to write a apology letter,” he told Tim Welch. “Because SkinnyBets gave me [$10,000] just for saying that and they weren’t gonna give me my [$50,000]… The fighter’s meeting they told me, they were like, ‘Don’t say anything about the gambling sites.’ But I didn’t think it was problem because it was on the mat, Stake.com.”

Klose’s win over Solecki was part of a four-fight winning streak, his longest in the UFC. Klose’s streak was snapped in his last outing with a flying knee stoppage loss against Joel Alvarez in December 2024. The 37-year-old will look to rebound against fellow veteran Edson Barboza at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.