UFC 171 Fighter Bonuses: Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler Take Fight fo the Night

UFC 171 took place on Saturday, March 15, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The main event centered on a fight between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler to determine a successor to Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight crown.

Not only did Hendricks and Lawler battle for the belt – a battle that Hendricks won – but they also fought their way to the Fight of the Night honors. They went back-and-forth, taking turns trying to take each others head off, leaving fans on their feet.

UFC president Dana White & Co. took notice and awarded each a $50,000 bonus for their efforts.

The Performance of the Night awards went to two of the finishers: Ovince St. Preux and Dennis Bermudez.

St. Preux was in the opening bout of the main card on pay-per-view, and finished Nikita Krylov with a rarely used Von Flue choke. Bermudez was part of the preliminary bout action on Fox Sports 2, leaving Jimmy Hettes in a heap via a TKO stoppage due to strikes.

Each bonus winner was awarded $50,000.

One new element to the performance bonuses is a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

White announced at the post-fight press conference that beginning with UFC 171, Harley Davidson will award a motorcycle to one of the performance bonus winners as voted on by the fans on the UFC Facebook page.