5 active UFC fighters with the most Performance of the Night bonuses

#4. Ovince Saint Preux – UFC light heavyweight (7 performance bonuses)

Ovince St. Preux has claimed a surprising amount of performance bonuses over the years

Given that he doesn’t really hold a reputation as being one of the UFC’s most exciting fighters, it should come as a bit of a shock to see Ovince Saint Preux ranked this highly on this list, as his seven performance bonuses put him level with Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone.

Despite his soft-spoken persona, though, ‘OSP’ is actually one of the most dangerous finishers in the light heavyweight division, with a total of 11 octagon finishes to his name, with a relatively even split of knockouts and submissions amongst them.

Two of Saint Preux’s performance bonuses have come for victories achieved using his trademark finisher, the Von Flue choke. In fact, four of his seven bonuses have come in fights that he’s won via submission.

However, it’s arguable that his most famous – and devastating – performance bonus came back in 2014, when he turned out the lights on former light heavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua with a slick counterpunch in just 34 seconds.

Overall, given his current slide in form, we may have seen the best of 'OSP' at this stage, but it still wouldn’t come as a surprise to see him claim at least one more performance bonus before all is said and done.

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#3. Conor McGregor – former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion (7 performance bonuses)

Conor McGregor's most recent performance bonus came in January 2020

Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor is undoubtedly the promotion’s biggest-ever star, but it’s safe to say that he didn’t get to that point purely by being an expert in trash-talking.

‘The Notorious’ also remains one of the most exciting fighters to ever set foot inside the octagon. The fact that he’s earned a total of seven performance bonuses over the years stands as strong evidence for that.

McGregor’s first performance bonus came back in 2014, when he stopped Diego Brandao in front of his home fans in Dublin, Ireland, although he did claim a Knockout of the Night bonus for his octagon debut KO of Marcus Brimage a year prior.

Since then, his wins over Dustin Poirier, Dennis Siver, Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Eddie Alvarez and Donald Cerrone have all handed him further performance bonuses.

This is even more remarkable when you consider that the promotion doesn’t tend to reward fighters who are already highly paid with an extra $50k. Of course, McGregor is renowned as the highest earner in the history of MMA.

Right now, ‘The Notorious’ is on a real slide, meaning that it’s questionable as to whether he’ll be in a position to claim another performance bonus in the future. However, as we’ve seen time after time before, you simply can’t count the Irishman out.