UFC 249 Bonuses: Gaethje Earns Two; Ferguson & Ngannou Each Notch One

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The Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, may have been completely devoid of fans on Saturday but it didn’t prevent of fighters from kicking ass and taking names at UFC 249.

The star of the night was Justin Gaethje as the fan favorite brawler used his vaunted power and electrifying style to nab not one but two post-fight bonuses. “The Highlight” lived up to his nickname as he not only pocketed $50K as a Performance of the Night bonus for his fifth-round destruction of Tony Ferguson, Gaethje doubled his bonus income by winning the Fight of the Night award as well (Ferguson obviously won the other half of the bonus for FOTN).

Gaethje picked Ferguson apart from pillar to post in an excellent brawl in the UFC 249 main event, eventually stopping “El Cucuy” with punches late in the fifth. The win allowed Gaethje to take home the interim UFC lightweight title and set up a showdown with regular 155-pound champion Khabib Nurmagomedov hopefully later this year. In just seven UFC fights, Gaethje has already won a staggering nine post-fight bonuses.

The other man to take home a cool 50 grand was heavyweight wrecking machine Francis Ngannou. The hulking puncher needed only 20 seconds to obliterate highly-touted contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik with punches. Ngannou dropped his foe with a left hook on the jaw and followed that punch up with several unanswered blows as referee Dan Miragliotta intervened, allowing “The Predator” to join the others in earning an additional $50K.

Heading to the pay window!

@Justin_Gaethje
@Francis_Ngannou

B2YB @P3Protein | #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/MhQc8v4b2b

— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2020