ATLANTA – Dustin Poirier, Max Holloway, Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 236 event.
All four fighters earned a pair of “Fight of the Night” bonuses for two 25-minute blood-soaked wars. No “Performance of the Night” honors were given in lieu of the two “Fight of the Nights.” UFC officials announced the winners following the event, which MMA Junkie attended.
In an absolute instant classic, Poirier (25-5 MMA, 17-4 UFC) beat featherweight champ Holloway (20-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC) to win the interim lightweight title. Poirier took a trio of 49-46 scores over five rounds and now is lined up for a unification fight against champ Khabib Nurmagomedov.
And in another all-time war, Adesanya (16-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) took a decision from Gastelum (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) after five rounds in the co-main event to win the interim middleweight title. Adesanya advanced to a title unification fight against champ Robert Whittaker. Adesanya won with a trio of 48-46 scores with nods from the judges in three of the five rounds, including a 10-8 round in the fifth from all three.
UFC 236 took place Saturday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
For complete coverage of UFC 236, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
