UFC Vegas 101 Bonuses: Mackenzie Dern, Cesar Almeida, Curtis, and Kopylov Take Home $50,000 Bonuses From Dana White

UFC Vegas 101 kicked off 2025 in style, delivering an action-packed night of thrilling fights and jaw-dropping finishes. But for four standout fighters, the night got even better when Dana White handed out performance bonuses. Mackenzie Dern, Cesar Almeida, Chris Curtis, and Roman Kopylov each earned the extra cash for their stellar performances, making their victories even sweeter. 

 Dern and Almeida took home $50,000 each as a performance of the night bonus. Her jiu-jitsu skills were on full display in what was essentially a grappling battle. Dern came from under Ribas’ mount to set up a slick armbar in the third round to avenge her 2019 loss. Talk about sweet revenge! While she was at it, Dern also became the first fighter to submit Ribas!

But as good as this fight was, it fell a little short of being the highlight of the night. That award goes to Cesar Almeida’s knockout of Abdul Razak Alhassan. After being dropped himself, Almeida finished the fight with a jaw-dropping counter hook that found Alhassan’s chin.

Curtis and Kopylov were also handed $50k each as the first fight of the night bonus for 2025 for a thrilling back and forth that ended with the latter securing a knockout win. 

The focus now shifts toward UFC 311 with two title defenses on the card. Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev takes on Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch for his fourth title defense. Makhchev is on a 14-fight win streak and will be hoping that this fight goes the same way as the others. If that happens, he intends to move up in weight to fight for the title at welterweight. 

The second title fight features Umar Nurmagomedov taking on Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title. This will be Umar’s first shot at the title. Interestingly, this will also be Merab’s first title defense.

However, with the Los Angeles wildfires raging on, there has been a dark shadow cast over the entire event.

Is UFC 311 moving out of California?

With the NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings being moved to Arizona, there was a certain amount of doubt over whether the city could host a sporting event amidst the crisis.

However, according to a statement released by the Intuit Dome, the intended host of UFC 311, the PPV is to stay in LA.

“Next week’s events will continue as scheduled at Intuit Dome, with the Clippers hosting the Miami Heat on Monday, January 13, and the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, January 15. We will welcome UFC 311 on Saturday, January 18.”

Earlier scribe Ariel Helwani had claimed that should the event be moved, the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas would be a frontrunner as an apt replacement for a PPV of this magnitude. However, since no other statement has been released from the UFC, it seems all will go as planned.