UFC 268 Highlights, Post Conference and Fighter Pay/Incentives

Setting the record for the 4th highest gate in Madison Square Garden, UFC 268 was a night of 14 winners, with 6 of them receiving the $50,000 bonus along with two others who, as per Dana White’s press conference remarks, will be getting something, if not the $50,000.

Along with the main card featuring the Welterweight title bout between Kumaru Usman and Colby Covington, and the Fight of The Night: Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler, 6 of the total 14 fights went to the judge’s decisions.

The winners of the $50,000 bonus were:

• Marlon Vera
• Alex Pereira
• Bobby Green
• Chris Barnett
• Justin Gaethje
• Michael Chandler

The Welterweight Title bout between Kumaru Usman and Colby Covington lasted the whole bout, with the judges’ decision favoring Kumaru Usman, continuing his reign as the best in the lineup.

While Dana White certainly considers Kumaru Usman as one of the contenders for the GOAT status, fans on Reddit and Twitter have pointed out that the better contender for it would be Georges St. Pierre.

After the fight, Kumaru Usman reiterated his desire to get in the square ring with Canelo who had finished a fight on the other side of the city the same night.

When asked by the reporters, Dana White, who was watching Canelo Alvarez Vs Caleb Plant while sitting beside the cage during the Namajunas Vs Zhang 2 bout, shrugged off the idea saying Usman doesn’t want to fight Canelo in that ring.

As per the fight promoter, Usman doesn’t want to fight Canelo in that ring. Canelo can come here and try MMA but Usman doesn’t want to go there and fight Canelo. Dana also hinted that the Welterweight Champion shouldn’t pull a Connor McGregor stunt.

Gaethje vs Chandler became the bout of the night as the exchange between them lasted 3 rounds, involving a total of 237 landed strikes, with 133 delivered by Gaethje and 104 by Chandler.

With almost no grappling other than one out of six successful takedown attempts made by Chandler, the whole fight was a brutal exchange of strikes that shook the arena.

Apart from the Fight of The Night, Gaethje and Chandler have also been nominated for the honor of Fight of the Year as well. After the fight, both fighters posted a selfie taken in the hospital.

With stunning performances one after the other, promoter Dana White has claimed that the UFC buried the estimated projections for the PPV count, saying that the federation will definitely break its own record this year.

While the UFC 268 made a total of $321,000 as per the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance, here’s an overview of the fighter pay as well as incentives, with the exclusion of PPV revenues as they are still accumulating:

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