Given he hasn’t had a two-paycheck fight in 30 months, Kai Asakura was perhaps surprisingly generous with his first three-paycheck bout in the UFC.
Asakura (22-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on Saturday knocked out Cameron Smotherman (12-7 MMA, 1-3 UFC) less than two minutes into their fight with an utterly vicious punch that had Smotherman on the canvas, wide-and-glassy eyed, no doubt wondering what just happened.
And for that, Asakura got not only his show money and win bonus, but an extra $100,000 as one of the two Performance of the Night bonus winners at UFC Fight Night 277 at Galaxy Macau.
The win Asakura’s first in the UFC. He arrived in late 2024 as a highly touted Rizin champion and had an immediate flyweight title fight against Alexandre Pantoja, but was submitted in the second round. Title shots in UFC debuts are about as rare as it gets in MMA.
In his follow-up to that in August 2025, he was upset as a 3-1 favorite by former title challenger Tim Elliott for an 0-2 flyweight start in the UFC.
Saturday, Asakura was back at bantamweight, where he thinks he belongs, and the result was brutal for Smotherman.
Not so brutal? Asakura’s coaches were told while he was on the phone learning he got a $100K bonus that he was gifting it to them.
Check out their enthusiastic response below.
朝倉海🗣️「ボーナスはコーチたちに配ります😁」@kai_1031_#UFCMacau
🏟️ #GalaxyArena | #GalaxyMacaupic.twitter.com/9uWDlTpmtB— UFC Japan (@ufc_jp) May 30, 2026
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Macau video: Kai Asakura gives $100,000 bonus money to coaches