Ineligible Frank Camacho implores UFC to give Damien Brown his share of 'Fight of Night' bonus

Frank Camacho had an idea after the UFC’s return to Sydney wrapped up Saturday night, and it involved trying to make his opponent an extra $50,000.

Camacho (21-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) beat Australia’s Damien Brown (17-11 MMA, 2-3 UFC) by split decision on the UFC Fight Night 121 preliminary card. Their back-and-forth bloody battle was pretty much a no-brainer for “Fight of the Night” at an event that featured nine decisions in 13 fights for a new UFC record for total fight time on a 13-bout card.

But because Camacho missed weight for their welterweight bout and was fined 20 percent of his fight purse, he became ineligible for any disclosed fight-night bonuses. That meant Brown got $50,000 in a losing cause – but Camacho’s $50,000 was left floating in the wind.

UFC Fight Night 121 took place Sunday (but aired live Saturday in North America due to the time difference) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. It aired on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

After the event, Camacho took to Twitter to ask the UFC – specifically President Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby – to give his $50,000 bonus to Brown.

“I’m not eligible for the Fight of the Night bonus for missing weight,” Camacho posted. “I humbly ask the @ufc to please give @beatdown155 my cut of the 50k. Well deserved for an absolute class act and WARRIOR and taking the fight for his home country! @danawhite @seanshelby”

There was mild confusion after the bonus winners were announced by the UFC. The official announcement listed Camacho and Brown as the “Fight of the Night” winners, but didn’t indicate Camacho would not receive his $50,000 cut. But it’s long been the promotion’s policy that missing weight makes a fighter ineligible for a bonus.

On FS1’s post-fight show, anchor Karyn Bryant, when announcing the award winners, initially indicated Brown would get Camacho’s share since Camacho missed weight. But UFC officials on the ground in Sydney told MMAjunkie that would not be the case.

Now the UFC brass can consider Camacho’s official plea. What do you think? Should Brown get Camacho’s $50,000 since he missed weight? Or is his $50,000 share in the split-decision loss good enough? Weigh in below in our poll.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.