Halloween night at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas paid out big for several fighters on the UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Nolan card. The promotion handed out four Performance of the Night bonuses worth $100,000 each, plus two $25,000 bonuses for stoppage wins. No Fight of the Night bonus was awarded, but six of the twelve fights on the card still earned extra pay for the winner, adding up to $450,000 in bonus money on top of the fighters’ regular purses.
Four Americans headline the bonus list
Tom Nolan took home the night’s biggest bonus after stopping Renato Moicano in the third round of the lightweight main event, his first as a UFC headliner. Nolan finished Moicano with punches and elbows following a contested standup in round two. He later said he was not asking the referee to stand the fight up, but was complaining about shots landing to the back of his head. Color commentator Laura Sanko called Nolan “a problem” during the fight, as he pressured Moicano for all three rounds before finally closing the show. Three of the four six-figure bonuses that night went to fellow Americans: Julian Erosa, Joseph Kropschot, and, among the $25,000 stoppage bonuses, Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani. Only the fourth six-figure bonus, awarded to an Oktagon import making her promotional debut, went to a fighter from outside the United States.
Julian Erosa walks away a winner
Julian Erosa, known as “Juicy J,” closed out his UFC career in the featherweight division with his family watching cageside. The Yakima, Washington native finished Jeong Yeong Lee by first-round knockout in under a minute and a half, closing his Octagon run with a 10-9 record and an extra $100,000 for his final walk to the cage. Erosa built a reputation over his UFC tenure as one of the roster’s most durable journeymen, rarely turning down a short-notice fight and finishing his run exactly the way he built his career: looking for the finish.
Joseph Kropschot cashes in on his debut
Middleweight newcomer Joseph Kropschot, nicknamed “The Land Animal,” earned his bonus in his first UFC appearance. Signed weeks earlier off a win on Dana White’s Contender Series, Kropschot hurt Nick Klein in the first round before finishing him with an inverted triangle armbar in the second. Reports out of the fight week said Kropschot was due to marry his high school sweetheart just days after the bout, capping a stretch in which he cashed two six-figure paydays in a matter of weeks.
A European debut earns the fourth six-figure bonus
The fourth Performance of the Night bonus went to Lucia Szabová, who made her promotional debut in the women’s flyweight division. The unbeaten former two-division Oktagon champion stopped Tainara Lisboa on punches in the third round, becoming the first Slovak fighter in UFC history and keeping her undefeated record intact in the process. Her run through two weight classes in Europe’s Oktagon promotion had made her one of the more closely watched free agents outside the UFC roster before she signed, and the bonus suggests she made good on that reputation on her first try.
Two $25,000 bonuses at welterweight
The two $25,000 stoppage bonuses both went to welterweights. Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani, the Hermosa Beach-based jiu-jitsu black belt, stopped Farman Hasanov in the third round on a doctor’s stoppage. Rodrigo Sezinando earned the same bonus for his second-round doctor stoppage win over Theodor Berggren after a cut was ruled too severe to continue. The UFC chose to reward both performances rather than wait on a judges’ decision.
The rest of a decision-heavy card
The remaining six fights on the card all went to the scorecards with no bonus attached. Luana Santos outpointed Yana Santos in a women’s bantamweight bout to extend her winning streak to four. Jacobe Smith defeated Randy Brown at welterweight, Cody Durden got past Ode Osbourne at flyweight, and Zachary Reese outworked Mickey Gall at middleweight. Piera Rodriguez beat Talita Alencar at women’s strawweight, and Dakota Hope won a split decision over Francis Marshall, who missed weight for their featherweight bout.
Four of the night’s six bonus-winning performances were decided by strikes, from Erosa’s first-round knockout to the doctor stoppages at welterweight. The gloves fighters wear inside the Octagon weigh four ounces, and our ranking of 4oz MMA fight gloves compares the best model from every major brand.
