King Green may as well have laid out a royal edict.
At Thursday’s press conference ahead of UFC 304, the lightweight veteran asked UFC CEO Dana White if the fighters competing at Saturday’s event in Manchester, England, could have their bonuses doubled from the usual $50,000 should they win a Performance of the Night or Fight of the Night award. White verbally agreed and MMA Fighting confirmed with officials that bonus winners will now earn $100,000 this weekend.
The topic was raised after White was asked if UFC 304 marks the biggest night in U.K. MMA history, given that British champions Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall are both defending their titles on the card. White announced that the event broke the Co-op Live gate record, though he noted that the venue has only been open since May.
Nevertheless, that information prompted Green—who fights English star Paddy Pimblett on Saturday—to chime in with his request.
“Uncle Dana, let’s spice it up a little bit,” Green said. “Can we get a hundred Gs for it? Can we get a hundred? Let’s spice it up a little bit.”
After some on-stage chatter, White said that Edwards backed up the idea.
“Leon says, ‘Yes,’” White said.
Edwards defends the UFC welterweight title against Belal Muhammad in Saturday’s main event. Hearing that a bonus will now net a six-figure check, Muhammad let out an excited, “Let’s go!” but Edwards quickly threw water on his rival’s hopes.
“Belal don’t worry about that, you’re not knocking anyone out,” Edwards said.
Mike Heck contributed to this report.
