UFC on ESPN+ 19, also known as UFC Tampa, Fight Night Tampa, UFC Fight Night 161, and UFC Fight Night: Joanna vs. Waterson will be held on Saturday, October 12 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
In addition to being paid a fixed amount to show and another, usually equal amount to win, each UFC event also awards four $50,000 Performance Bonuses. Usually, there is a Fight of the Night in which both fighters are given a performance bonus, and a performance bonus to the winner in two fights, sometimes, as happened here, no fight of the night is awarded; rather, four performance bonuses were given. “Performance Bonus” means the fight made you say “HOLY F@$%ING $#!@.”
One of the primary differences between the UFC model and the boxing model is the depth of the card. Sometimes the greatest fight isn’t the main event, or close to it. However, at UFC on ESPN+ 19 three of four bonuses went to main card fights.
$50,000 Fight of the Night
•Cub Swanson defeated Kron Gracie by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Kron Gracie and Cub Swanson just gave us a fucking war #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/uy0iXjgdN1
— Connoisseur of Combat (@ConOfCombat) October 13, 2019
Decision for @CubSwanson! 🐻👊#UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/OOmtRYe9Rd
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) October 13, 2019
Kron Gracie’s spirits were not dampened despite suffering his first MMA loss to Cub Swanson. #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/bm88HXVnx7
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 13, 2019
$50,000 Performance Bonus:
•Niko Price defeated James Vick by KO (Upkick, Round 1, 1:44)
O M G
UPKICK KO 😱
(via @ufc)pic.twitter.com/W51G3xR0bg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 13, 2019
$50,000 Performance Bonus:
•Marlon Vera defeated Andre Ewell by TKO (Strikes, Round 3, 3:17)
Marlon Vera (-135) stops Andre Ewell… #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/Suy4iPzoSV
— Sportsbook Review (@SBRReview) October 12, 2019
Live gate: $897,805.00
Attendance: 10,597
In addition, to the bonuses and purses, there are:
•Reebok pay, based on tenure, for wearing the distinctive apparel during fight week and in the Octagon;
•Sometimes fighters get discretionary locker room bonuses of varying amounts; despite their name, locker room bonuses actually come in the mail now;
•In some cases there is an LOA [Letter of Agreement] on the contract for additional income; and,
•The most elite fighters get points on the pay per view for PPV events, although this event was on ESPN+, not PPV.
The next league event is UFC on ESPN 6 on October 18, 2019 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
