UFC to pay fighters bitcoin bonuses for ‘bad-a** performances’

The UFC is set to start paying its stars a new bonus decided by fans in cryptocurrency, starting with this weekend's event in Florida.

The new 'Fan Bonus of the Night' will be split between three fighters who MMA enthusiasts choose as the best performers on each pay-per-view card, with a $60,000 total divided between the trio in bitcoin.

"Crypto.com has been an official UFC partner for less than a year, and I’m telling you they are already one of the best partners we’ve ever had," UFC president Dan White said in a press release, with the elite promotion signing a 10-year, $175 million fight kit sponsorship deal with Crypto in 2021.

"They’re constantly coming up with new ideas about how we can work together to connect with the fans. This new 'Fan Bonus of the Night' is an awesome way to get fans more engaged in our events while rewarding the fighters for bad-a** performances," White added.

Fighters will be pleased to learn that the UFC plans to keep its traditional 'Fight of the Night' and 'Performance of the Night' bonuses that typically pay $50,000 each, though this is sometimes upped to $75,000 when White feels generous.

Fans will be able to vote up to three times when the voting window for the 'Fan Bonus of the Night' opens at the start of a PPV preliminary card.

When the window closes an hour after the main card has finished, the first-placed fighter will take home $30,000 as the second-place fighter will earn $20,000 and the third-place fighter $10,000.

These prizes, transactions for which will be made via Crypto.com before fighters are paid in a fixed-dollar amount in bitcoin, will run out for the first time during Saturday's UFC 273 event at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

The card is co-headlined by two title fights that see Alexander Volkanovski defend his featherweight title for the third time against 'Korean Zombie' Jung Chan-sung and Petr Yan attempt to snatch the bantamweight crown back from Aljamain Sterling.

Elsewhere, Crypto.com has sponsorship deals with F1, the FIFA World Cup and individual franchises such as NBA basketball outfit the Philadelphia 76ers.