With the ESPN era of the UFC coming to an end, there has been a noticeable lack of Fight of the Night bonuses awarded, with the promotion selecting performance bonuses instead more often than not.
For the fourth consecutive event, that was the case on Saturday, with four Performance of the Night bonuses being handed out at UFC Qatar instead. The winners include returning Kyoji Horiguchi and short-lived heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta.
A former flyweight title challenger, Horiguchi left the UFC in 2016 after a three-fight win streak, but opted to fight for RIZIN in his native Japan. America’s top team fighter, who remains in camp in Florida, would simultaneously hold bantamweight gold in both RIZIN and Bellator MMA, an unprecedented feat.
Although injury would force him to vacate both titles, Horiguchi would go on to become RIZIN’s inaugural flyweight champion before opting to return to the UFC to make another run at flyweight gold. He got off to a great start on Saturday, choking out Tagir Ulanbekov after beating him for the better part of three rounds.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta wasn’t even scheduled to fight this week and had already recently picked up a victory over PFL heavyweight champion Ante Delija. But with Sergey Spivac out, the Dominican heavyweight jumped in on a few days’ notice and knocked out Shamil Gaziev in less than two minutes. He then called for a spot at the final UFC event of 2025.
Newcomer Luke Riley and main event lightweight Arman Tsarukyan, who submitted Dan Hooker, rounded out the UFC Qatar Performance of the Night bonus winners.
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