UFC 298 Bonuses: Ilia Topuria Receives $50K for Championship-Winning Knockout

UFC 298 will go down as a night to remember for Ilia Topuria.

In addition to becoming the fifth featherweight champion in promotion history, Topuria received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski in Saturday’s headliner at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. A clean right hook from “El Matador” abruptly ended what had been a competitive affair at the 3:32 mark of Round 2.

Elsewhere, Anthony Hernandez garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his submission victory against Roman Kopylov in a featured middleweight bout. “Fluffy” gradually overwhelmed his opponent with pace and pressure before forcing a tapout with a rear-naked choke 3:23 into the second frame.

Former Road to UFC competitor Mingyang Zhang captured the evening’s third $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for making short work of Brendson Ribeiro in a preliminary light heavyweight clash. Zhang dropped his Brazilian foe with a left hook and sealed his victory with follow-up ground-and-pound for a stoppage at the 1:41 mark of Round 1.

Finally, Amanda Lemos and Mackenzie Dern earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their back-and-forth strawweight encounter. While Lemos hurt and dropped Dern in the second stanza, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt maintained her composure and used her grappling to keep the fight competitive until the final horn. Ultimately, it was Lemos who emerged with a hard-fought unanimous decision triumph.