Tommy McMillen apparently handled his first UFC bonus like a Las Vegas mission assertion. The unbeaten featherweight says he stayed awake for 3 days after bankrolling a $100,000 Struggle of the Evening award in his April debut.
McMillen earned the additional money at UFC Vegas 115 on April 4, stopping Italy’s Manolo Zecchini by first-round TKO on the UFC Apex. The end got here at 3:57, after McMillen damage Zecchini with knees and piled on strikes to finish the battle. It moved the Nice Falls, Montana product to 10-0 as an expert and 1-0 within the UFC.
UFC’s Tommy McMillen Partied for 72 Hours After $100K Bonus Win
A number of months later, McMillen gave the post-fight journey its full evaluation. “I didn’t sleep for 3 days, I partied my ass off, it was getting wild,” he stated. “I acquired again house off the airplane and promised a bunch of interviews so I simply stayed up.”
The timing couldn’t have been significantly better for a Vegas blowout. UFC bonus awards moved to $100,000 in 2026, doubling the promotion’s prior normal bonus determine. McMillen and Zecchini every obtained that quantity for Struggle of the Evening, whereas Alice Pereira and Alessandro Costa took the 2 Efficiency of the Evening bonuses.
McMillen had referred to as his shot earlier than the battle. He entered his promotional debut as a heavy favourite and predicted a end worthy of a $100,000 bonus, having stated he wished to get wealthy via combating. Then he went out, stopped Zecchini inside 4 minutes and acquired the award he had been speaking about. Vegas might have been the one logical subsequent opponent.
McMillen’s arrival got here after he earned a UFC contract via Dana White’s Contender Sequence in September 2025, when he beat beforehand unbeaten David Mgoyan by majority choice. He had completed every of his first eight professional opponents earlier than that bout, then returned to the stoppage column in his UFC debut.
McMillen will get proper again to work on Saturday, July 18, when he meets Venezuela’s Alberto “The Promise” Montes in a three-round featherweight battle at UFC Struggle Evening: Du Plessis vs. Usman at Paycom Middle in Oklahoma Metropolis. Montes enters 11-1, with 5 submission wins, and made a quick impression in his UFC debut by submitting Ricky Turcios with an anaconda choke 40 seconds into the second spherical at UFC 326 in March. McMillen brings a 10-0 document, a five-inch top edge and a 74-inch attain towards Montes’ listed 69-inch attain, establishing a clear striker-versus-grappler query on the primary card.
The 28-year-old trains underneath Tim Welch and alongside former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who was in his nook for the Zecchini battle. McMillen has made no secret of his title ambitions, however his first UFC payday produced a extra rapid precedence: 72 hours of Vegas nightlife, adopted by a flight house and an interview schedule with zero sleep within the tank.
