‘Highlight reel’ Justin Gaethje has $300,000 bonus request for Dana White ahead of UFC 300

Justin Gaethje proposes a grand bonus prize at the historic UFC 300.

‘Highlight reel’ Justin Gaethje has $300,000 bonus request for Dana White ahead of UFC 300

Justin Gaethje wants a $300k bonus from Dana White(via Imago)

Will UFC 300 have a different bonus rather than the usual $50,000? Justin Gaethje thinks so. He wants Dana White to give fighters a whopping $300k bonus at the historic event. Gaethje will defend his UFC ‘BMF’ title against Max Holloway, and the hype around the fight is unreal. However, the BMF champion wanted something special to commemorate UFC 300. 

Given the history of both fighters, many expect the fight to receive ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. Ahead of the event, Justin Gaethje recently did an interview with MMA Junkie, where he talked about UFC giving $300k for the fighters at UFC 300. The ‘Highlight’ mentioned that the fight bonus should not be under $100k, given the significance of the pay-per-view event.

I'm hoping this UFC 300 card brings $300k bonuses and I'm always shooting for those things. It needs to be at least 100.
Justin Gaethje via MMA Junkie
YouTube video

Gaethje is a showman and always puts on some of the best performances for the fight fans. ‘The Highlight’ always puts an emphasis on knocking out his opponent. The fighter has a record of taking a lot of fight bonuses. In his first seven UFC bouts, Gaethje won four ‘Performance of Night’ and three ‘Fight of Night’ bonuses.

FS Video

Similarly, Max Holloway has a total of 10 fight bonuses in UFC. It shows that both fighters tend to dominate their opponents, making the upcoming clash even more exciting. UFC and White are mostly very strict with fight bonuses. However, this time, it can be different given the circumstances. Only time will tell if Dana White adheres to Gaethje’s wish.

Dana White’s history of giving out post-fight bonuses

Since the early days, UFC has always kept the performance/fight bonus at $50,000. After years of growth in the UFC, the fight bonus has never changed. However, there have been a few special cases when the fight bonuses have deliberately increased. 

Dana White hands out bonus awards
Dana White hands out bonus awards(via The SportsRush)

One of the major instances was at UFC 262. Tony Ferguson asked Dana White to increase the fight bonus before his fight against Beneil Dariush. 

I'm gonna ask you, Dana. Since we're here like last time, can we get a bigger bonus this time? Can we go out there and get a f***** bigger fight? Can we get it? Can you dig it? Let's get it.
Tony Ferguson via UFC 262 presser
YouTube video

White initially ignored the fighter but later agreed to the suggestion. As such, UFC 262 got a 50 percent raise in all the bonus prizes. Ferguson didn’t win the fight or the bonus, but he influenced the bonus increase just for that event. At UFC 100, the bonus was set at $100k. However, that didn’t translate to UFC 200. It will be intriguing to see if Dana White opts to raise the bonus award for UFC 300.

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