The UFC issued $90,000 to five fighters for Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night, and Submission of the Night bonuses stemming from The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale that took place Saturday, Dec. 8 in Las Vegas.
The live finale concluded “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra” reality series, which finished its run on Spike TV earlier this month.
Each bonus winner earned an additional $15,000 on top of his normal pay — except for Jon Koppenhaver, who earned $30,000 for snagging Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses.
Show semifinalist Matt Arroyo, who was eventually forced out of the competition due to a rib injury, returned at the finale to earn the Submission of the Night bonus for his first-round arm bar of John Kolosci.
“I’m good friends with (well-known manager) Dean Albrecht, who was in the hotel with me after the fight,” Arroyo told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com). “I was just wondering who got the submission bonus, so he text messaged Joe (Silva), and he said I got it. Man, it’s so cool.
“I was hoping I’d get it. I kept telling myself I’d get it. There were a lot of great submissions, but I guess mine was the coolest looking or something, but I know Roman (Mitichyan) had a pretty sick heel hook, and Mac (Danzig) surprised everyone with his choke on Tommy (Speer).“
Koppenhaver scored a third-round TKO of Jared Rollins — in a hugely entertaining bout that kicked off the televised portion of the event — for Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night honors. His only competition for the knockout bonus was Troy Mandaloniz, who scored the only other KO of the night when he stopped Richie Hightower at 4:20 of the first round.
Because the Fight of the Night award earns both the fight’s loser and the winner bonus money, Rollins also got a $15,000 check despite the loss.
Koppenhaver and Rollins split the Fight of the Night award with main-event fighters Roger Huerta and Clay Guida, who each also earned $15,000. Huerta scored a third-round submission victory in the bout.
