UFC Vegas 53 post-fight bonuses: Marlon Vera, Rob Font win ‘Fight of the Night’ honors

Marlon Vera and Rob Font were rewarded with the “Fight of the Night” for their five-round slugfest in UFC Vegas 53’s headliner, but only one fighter left UFC APEX with bonus money.

Vera and Font went toe-to-toe for 25 minutes and produced several thrilling moments before Vera was declared the winner by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) on Saturday in Las Vegas.

The bout was a shoo-in to win Fight of the Night, which would normally mean an extra $50,000 for both participants. However, due to Font missing weight by 2.5 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins, only Vera was eligible for the bonus. With both shares of the award going to Vera, he is now $100,000 richer.

The UFC announced post-fight bonus-winners after the event. Vera earned his seventh UFC performance bonus while Font picked up his fifth. This is also Vera’s third Fight of the Night win and Font’s second.

Two other bonuses were handed out at UFC Vegas 53 for “Performance of the Night” and went to a pair of Brazilian finishers. Main card combatant Joanderson Brito took home an additional $50,000 for a 41-second knockout of veteran Andre Fili, while Francisco Figueiredo, the brother of UFC flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, took home the same bonus amount for a 78-second kneebar submission of Daniel da Silva.