UFC 243 bonuses: Israel Adesanya rewarded for championship-winning knockout

Israel Adesanya is now the undisputed UFC middleweight champion and unsurprisingly his performance was more than worthy of a bonus.

With a spectacular second-round finish of Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday, Adesanya unified their respective titles, snapped Whittaker’s nine-fight win streak, and improved his own MMA record to 18-0.

At the evening’s post-fight presser, Adesanya was announced as one recipient of a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus check, with the other going to newcomer Yorgan De Castro. The UFC 243 Fight of the Night award went to Brad Riddell and Jamie Mullarkey.

In seven UFC appearances, Adesanya has collected six fight night bonuses.

De Castro, a heavyweight who recently earned a UFC contract on the Contender Series, had the fastest finish of the evening, blasting Justin Tafa with a right hand 2:10 into the main card opener.

On the ESPN2 preliminary portion of the show, Riddell and Mullarkey made the most of their UFC debuts, going back-and-forth for two rounds before engaging in a wild and bloody brawl in the third that had Marvel Stadium roaring. Riddell would go on to claim a unanimous decision victory.