The Octagon made its long awaited return to Iowa on Saturday night where an exciting addition to the roster earned his first performance of the night bonus.
Despite the main card opener delivering an entertaining three-round contest where Mason Jones beat Jeremy Stephens, there was no fight of the night bonus at UFC Des Moines.
Instead, four bonuses were given out to the most impressive displays with Cory Sandhagen and Reinier de Ridder both receiving an extra 50k for their wins in the main and co-main event.
Two other additional checks were given out for prelim fighters with Quang Le and Azamat Bekoev being rewarded for their impressive finishes.
Dana White’s right hand man called Bekoev alongside UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard to give him the news and the Russian had already prepared something to give back.
Azamat Bekoev asks where Hunter Campbell and Mick Maynard are so that he can gift them a traditional Russian dagger
In a video posted by Azamat Bekoev on Instagram, he showed his reaction to receiving the news that he’d earned a performance of the night bonus.
The 29-year-old was incredibly grateful to both Hunter Campbell and Mick Maynard for awarding him this additional payment after he stopped Ryan Loder in the opening round.
“No way! Thank you, thank you both. I’m really happy to call with you.”
Bekoev debuted inside the Octagon earlier this year where he stopped Zach Reese at UFC 311 after joining the promotion as the former LFA middleweight champion.
In the second half of the video, the Russian revealed that he had something to give either Campbell or Maynard in exchange for the bonus.
Bekoev then held up what appears to be a traditional dagger that is often worn by the people of his home country, asking for the locations of the UFC’s key figures so that he could bring it to them.
Maynard joked over the phone that he might have an issue with getting it back home with him.
“I got something for you, can I see you? Where are you? Every real man have to have this. Just let me know where are you. See you soon.”
Azamat Bekoev calls out ‘turtle ninja man’ Torrez Finney after impressive knockout win
After recording the eighth knockout win of his career, Azamat Bekoev named Torrez Finney as a potential opponent for his next Octagon outing.
The Russian was able to put away Ryan Loder, an accomplished wrestler, and now he wants to do the same thing to the heavily criticized Finney.
“I’m going to fight with turtle ninja man, Torrez Finney. He’s [a] boring fighter and [I] can make a favor for [the] UFC and beat him up and he not gonna come back ever.”
Bekoev also named Jack Hermansson, who hasn’t stepped inside the Octagon since his win over Joe Pyfer in February of 2024, as a potential opponent.