“They Took Care”: UFC Seattle Winner Assures Fans After Another Bonus Snub Despite First-Round Finish

The Climate Pledge Arena, hosting UFC Seattle, was all buzzing, witnessing an action-packed night of MMA. Out of 13 featured bouts, nine ended in a finish. While it was a treat for fans, the promotion just had too many options for bonus rewards. And thus, fighters like Terrance McKinney were snubbed off that. But as it seems, UFC has some of the other ways to reconcile with the affected fighters.

“You guys don’t worry,” wrote McKinney on X. “The UFC took care of me, and very blessed to get a first-round finish in my city. God is great ”

You guys don’t worry the ufc took care of me and very blessed to get a first round finish in my city God is great

— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) March 29, 2026

To provide a quick overview, Terrance McKinney featured in the main-card opener bout against Kyle Nelson. A lightweight bout, and it turned out to be as per everyone’s expectations. For those unaware, McKinney has quite a reputation in the UFC. And it is purely based on his piercing his opponents in the opening rounds.

As such, McKinney has won eight out of his 13 UFC fights. And interestingly, all those victories came via a first-round knockout or submission. This includes his latest fight against Nelson, where he took just 24 seconds to secure a technical knockout. However, despite that, the bonus list didn’t include the 31-year-old. Notably, this isn’t the first. McKinney has never been a recipient of a bonus despite securing eight opening round wins in the UFC.

However, since UFC 324 in January, the leading MMA promotion has implemented a new bonus system. Unlike the previous setup, where Performance of the Night (POTN) and Fight of the Night (FOTN) recipients received $50,000 as a bonus, the revised system has increased that amount to $100,000.

On top of that, the fighters who miss out on the traditional POTN and FOTN will be subjected to a $25,000 bonus reward if they win via finishes. In the case of McKinney, surely the leading MMA promotion has pocketed the additional bonus. That said, if not McKinney, then who else received the rewards?

Joe Pyfer, Alexa Grasso among the UFC Seattle bonus recipients

As revealed earlier, UFC Seattle was an electrifying night in terms of buzzing MMA moments. Not just that, it also surpassed last week’s UFC London card in terms of finishes. While the Movsar Evloev vs. Lerone Murphy-led card had only four finishes, the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle saw nine in total.

Starting from the top, Israel Adesanya and Joe Pyfer headlined the UFC Seattle card in a middleweight contest. For Adesanya, it was a chance to turn around his four-fight losing streak; meanwhile, Pyfer had an opportunity to put out a statement victory over a former champion. And the American didn’t flinch on that.

Securing a second-round TKO finish, Pyfer edged out a legend of his division. Citing that, the UFC rewarded him with the Performance of the Night bonus of $100,000. Moving forward to the co-main event. A women’s flyweight bout that surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Former champion Alexa Grasso stepped in to face Maycee Barber in a rematch. While the expectations were to see a hard-fought battle, given Barber’s seven-fight winning streak, the results turned out to be different. In just 2:42 seconds into the fight, Grasso took out her opponent with a clean jab.

And for that, UFC rewarded the Mexican with the second POTN. But who won the Fight of the Night (FOTN) bonus? It’s an award that often goes to a full, hard-fought bout. At UFC London last week, Mason Jones and Axel Sola were the recipients of it. And this weekend, the leading MMA promotion deemed Ignacio Bahamondes and Tofiq Musayev as the deserving contenders.

Apart from that, Michael Chiesa, Lerryan Douglas, Yousri Belgaroui, Lance Gibson Jr., Casey O’Neil, and Navajo Stirling were other fighters who won their bouts via knockout or submission.  And that is how an electrifying night of MMA ended at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle Washington.

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