UFC 243 bonuses: Israel Adesanya picks up an extra $50,000, natch

MELBOURNE, Australia – Israel Adesanya, Yorgan De Castro, Brad Riddell and Jamie Mullarkey each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 243 event.

Adesanya and De Castro earned “Performance of the Night” honors, while Riddell and Mullarkey picked up the “Fight of the Night” honors. UFC officials announced the winners following the event, which MMA Junkie attended.

Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) captured the undisputed middleweight title with a second-round knockout of champion Robert Whittaker (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) in the main event. Adesanya was the interim champ coming in and unified the titles with his victory, making him an undefeated UFC champion. He debuted in the promotion in 2018, making his path to the title about 20 months long. Adesanya’s bonus gives him six post-fight awards in seven fights in the UFC.

De Castro (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) had a huge UFC debut to open up the main card. He picked up a walk-off knockout of Justin Tafa (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) with just one punch in their heavyweight fight. De Castro and Tafa threw at the same time, but De Castro’s punch was the one that landed first, and flush.

Riddell (7-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Mullarkey (12-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) threw haymaker after haymaker in their lightweight fight on the prelims. The barnburner included a third round that was nothing short of ridiculous and featured both men landing bombs in exhausted fashion. Ultimately, Riddell, a teammate of Israel Adesanya, took home a unanimous decision with a pair of 30-26 scores and a 29-27.

UFC 243 took place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.