UFC Tampa bonuses: Price earns $50k for impressive upkick KO

The second upkick knockout in UFC history was a shoo-in for a bonus at UFC Tampa.

Welterweight Niko Price picked up an extra $50,000 as one of two “Performance of the Night” bonuses at UFC Tampa.

Price knocked out James Vick with an upward shot in the first round of their main card fight at Amalie Arena on ESPN+. It was his sixth UFC finish in the past three years, according to the promotion, and his third such performance bonus.

The other “Performance of the Night” bonus went to bantamweight Marlon Vera, who won the five-figure award for a third-round stoppage of Andre Ewell on the event’s preliminary-card.

Vera now has won five straight and earned three performance bonuses. But as he said after his win, he’s not in the business of calling his shots.

The $50,000 “Fight of the Night” honor went to the night’s co-main event between veteran Cub Swanson and Kron Gracie. In a back-and-forth battle, Swanson punished Gracie with body shots. But the jiu-jitsu standout proved quite durable, and what started as a technical fight devolved into a slugfest in close quarters.

Swanson nonetheless secured a shutout on judges’ scorecards. The win snapped a career-endangering losing streak of four fights. It was his 11th performance bonus under the Zuffa umbrella.

Gracie suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career.