1. Anderson Silva – Seven ‘Knockout Of The Night’ Bonuses
The undisputed king of the ‘KO’ bonus is unquestionably Anderson Silva who clearly leads the field with a whopping seven bonuses.
The bonuses started coming thick and fast from the moment Silva set foot in the Octagon, starting with his debut against Chris Leben in 2006 which lasted just 49 seconds. His next victim was Rich Franklin, a night that would also seem him crowned the middleweight champion. Franklin had the misfortune to be on the end of another ‘Knockout Of The Night’ loss to him a year later, but not before Silva had also scooped up another bonus for a first round victory over Nate Marquardt.
It’d be a couple of years later before his next KO bonus arrived, and in some style as he essentially left Forrest Griffin helplessly swatting at thin air before putting him out of his misery in a rare appearance at light-heavyweight. Vitor Belfort was next up, leaving our collective jaws hanging wide open in astonishment as he finished him with a front kick to the face and a year later earned his seventh bonus by taking out his arch-rival, Chael Sonnen with a flurry of strikes.
Not only did Silva earn the most KO bonuses, he also managed to take out two of the other fighters on this list (Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort) along the way, which makes it all the more impressive.
