Alessandro Costa turned a prelims showcase into a six-figure night, stopping Stewart Nicoll at UFC Fight Night 272 and walking away with a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
Costa finished Nicoll with a liver shot on the prelims at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, earning his third post-fight bonus in the UFC and his first under the new bonus structure.
"That was something we worked on throughout the camp," Costa said afterward. "My coach is always stressing this: You need to move around, you need to use your footwork. It's something we're always going to improve in our training. What you saw tonight was exactly what we planned."
Costa, a 30-year-old Brazilian flyweight, now holds a 15-5 MMA record and is 3-3 in the UFC, with bonuses attached to all three of his promotional victories. His first two UFC bonuses came in 2023 and 2024.
Reflecting on what the extra money has already meant outside the cage, Costa added: "The last bonus, I was able to help out my parents and get them a house. Imagine with money like this (in the new bonus structure). We can help out a lot of people."
