UFC 170 Bonuses And Attendance: Rousey, MacDonald, Maia, And Thompson Bank $50,000
UFC 170 is in the books from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the new bonuses have been announced at the UFC 170 post-fight press conference.
Not surprisingly, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey took home $50,000 for one of the evening’s “Performance of the Night” bonuses with her vicious first round finish of worthy challenger Sara McMann.
Both fighters showed good striking early on, and Rousey proved all the hype about her dropping boxers with body shots was true, flooring McMann with a knee to earn her first knockout.
“Fight of the Night” was deservedly taken home by Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia for MacDonald’s decision win. Maia controlled the action early on with a takedown, using his world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu pedigree to control MacDonald on the ground.
But “Ares” fought back with his striking, keeping Maia and range and blasting him repeatedly while avoiding tons of takedowns. It was a huge bounce –back win for the highly touted MacDonald, who appears more at ease with talk of him facing good friend Georges St. Pierre gone for the time being.
The final “Performance of the Night bonus went to surging welterweight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who earned a well-deserved ,000 for his first round stoppage of TUF: Smashes winner Robert Whittaker. There’s no doubt that “Wonderboy” has some of the best pure striking in all of MMA; he’s destined to be a powerful force if he can round out his game.
All said and done, UFC 170 drew a reported attendance of 10,217 for a live gate of $1,558,870. It was a substantial drop-off from the UFC’s last show at Mandalay Bay, UFC 156 in February 2013, which pulled in $2,437,150.
Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie for USA TODAY Sports
