Deiveson Figueiredo happy with $50,000 ‘alimony,’ says Dana White apologized for UFC 255 bonus snub

Deiveson Figueiredo scored an impressive first-round submission over Alex Perez in the main event of UFC 255 on Nov. 21, and agreed to a historic three-week turnaround to defend his flyweight title against Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC 256 three weeks later. That victory alone, however, didn’t seem to impress Dana White enough to grant him a post-fight performance bonus.

That said, the president of the UFC invited Figueiredo to his office in Las Vegas a few days later to hand him a bag with $50,000 in cash, admitting he “f*cked up.”

“He told name he made a mistake and he was there to fix it,” Figueiredo told MMA Fighting. “He apologized for not giving me the bonus right away, said that everyone criticized him a lot, but he’s someone that always corrects his mistakes, and he was there to do it.”

The Brazilian talent, who says he hasn’t received any extra financial incentive to bounce back right away and face Moreno in December, had no idea he was about to pocket extra cash when he hopped in a car with his manager Wallid Ismail and headed to the UFC office.

“I really didn’t know,” Figueiredo said. “But I joked with Wallid in the car, ‘I’m going to get my alimony from daddy now.’ And Wallid laughed, he filmed it, and when we got there [White] did that surprise and gave me my alimony [laughs]. I honestly had no idea. Wallid said, ‘Man, you really are awesome, you were right.’

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll buy me a crystal ball here in the United States now.’”

Figueiredo improved to 20-1 as a professional fighter with his victory on Nov. 21. Scheduled to face Moreno on Dec. 12 now, “Deus da Guerra” will attempt to go 4-0 this year following wins over Joseph Benavidez (twice) and Perez.