UFC Lightweight Champ Benson Henderson, Joe Duarte Bag $10,000 in Zuffa Twitter Bonuses

Both Henderson and Duarte received $5,000 awards for finishing near the top of the “most followers” and “greatest percentage of growth” categories. Other winners in the first group include longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and nemesis Chael Sonnen. Meanwhile, joining “Smooth” and Duarte in collecting bonuses for producing the greatest percentage of growth are former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and onetime Strikeforce heavyweight ruler Alistair Overeem.

Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey also bagged $5,000 for making the “most creative” list, as did Jason Miller, Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

Zuffa began awarding its fighters for their Twitter participation last year, dividing all UFC and Strikeforce talent into four divisions based on their number of followers at the start of each quarter. UFC President Dana White, who boasts over 2 million followers on his official feed, has embraced the social media platform as a promotional tool and frequently uses the medium to converse with fans.