Many conspiracies were running wild in hectic lead up to UFC 279. The unprecedented shuffling of the card was a result of an egregious weight miss by one of card’s biggest superstars – Khamzat Chimaev.
There were signs Chimaev wouldn’t make weight early, according to his coach but none of the public anticipated that Chimaev would flagrantly break the rules, weigh in in almost the next division and be unbothered about it.
In most situations like this, the opponent is given a chance to renegotiate a catchweight bout typically receiving 20 to 30% of their opponents purse. Paulo Costa recently explained that’s how he made just $30,000 for going 5 rounds against Marvin Vettori.
When all was said and done – it was time for White to hand out bonuses. And while Crypto.com might be going bust with the fan bonus ‘undergoing a retooling’, the organization rewarded Aldana (for her liver kick finish), Walker (for the submission over Cutelaba) and Nate Diaz (Performance of the night).
“i’m gonna… i’m, i’m gonna take care of him i’ll, i’ll do a little something for him” White said when someone in the press asked about if e considered giving a bonus to Chimaev.
After the event, all of Chimaev’s team members were kicked out of the locker room and had to wait outside while and White had a one on one.
Video of the team waiting outside of the locker room leaked online. No word yet as to how substantial the ‘bonus’ was considering that White’s affections vary greatly. Cormier’s previously bragged about a million dollar bonus while another UFC athlete outed the organization for a bonus consisting of $10,000 – which ended up being more like $3,000 after taxes and managerial cuts.