UFC 219 bonuses: Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm net $50,000 each for five-round title fight

LAS VEGAS – Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tim Elliott each earned $50,000 fight-night bonuses at Saturday’s UFC 219 event.

Nurmagomedov and Elliott picked up “Performance of the Night” awards, and Cyborg and Holm took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

In the main event, Cyborg (19-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) retained the women’s featherweight title against former bantamweight champ Holm (11-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC). Cyborg needed 25 minutes to top Holm, who had moments of success against the Brazilian. Ultimately, she won with scores of 49-46 and a pair of 48-47s.

Elliott (15-8-1 MMA, 4-6 UFC) picked up a crucial victory when he forced newcomer Mark Delarosa (9-1, 0-1 UFC) to tap to an anaconda choke in the second round. Elliott was supposed to fight two weeks ago, but had his bout against Pietro Menga scrapped when Menga didn’t step on the scale. Elliott was critical of the UFC for not paying him his win bonus, as well as his show money. But he made up for it Saturday with the extra $50,000 for his card-opening bantamweight win.

Nurmagomedov (25-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) was pure dominance against Edson Barboza (19-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in their lightweight fight and punched his ticket as the No. 3 man in the division after champ Conor McGregor and interim titleholder Tony Ferguson. Nurmagomedov won with a pair of 30-25 scores and a 30-24, meaning one judge gave him 10-8 scores in all three rounds of a masterful performance.

UFC 219 took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with a pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

For more on UFC 219, check out the UFC Events section of the site.