UFC 217 Bonuses: All Three New Champs Pocket $50K Awards; OSP, Ramos Get $25K

Rose Namajunas pulled off one of the year’s biggest upsets against a longstanding, dominant champion, and now “Thug” is $50,000 richer for her efforts.

Namajunas claimed a “Performance of the Night” bonus for a first-round technical knockout of reigning strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a featured bout at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The end came 3:03 into the frame, as Namajunas connected with a left hook to the jaw before polishing off her downed opponent with punches on the mat.

Meanwhile, Georges St. Pierre received “Performance of the Night” honors and $50,000 for his middleweight championship victory over Michael Bisping in the UFC 217 headliner. After a tense opening two rounds, St. Pierre floored Bisping with a counter left in the third before unloading with powerful ground-and-pound on the canvas. When that didn’t finish Bisping, “Rush” transitioned to a rear-naked choke and rendered the Englishman unconscious at the 4:23 mark.

Elsewhere, T.J. Dillashaw also got a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for a win over Cody Garbrandt in evening’s co-main event. Dillashaw was dropped by a Garbrandt right hook in the waning seconds of round one but survived until the horn. In the second stanza, Dillashaw rebounded to floor “No Love” with a high kick early before putting the fight away with a right hook and follow-up right hands on the ground for a stoppage at the 2:41 mark of the period.

Finally, Ricardo Lucas Ramos earned a $25,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his third-round knockout of Aiemann Zahabi. A spinning back elbow to the jaw brought an end to the bantamweight clash 1:58 into the third frame. It was just the second such finish in the history of the Las Vegas-based promotion. Additionally, Ovince St. Preux pocketed a $25,000 award for his head kick knockout of Corey Anderson in a light heavyweight bout.