MMA
UFC president Dana White recently confirmed the UFC 244 main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz on November 2 in Madison Square Garden, New York. Initially, the welterweight title bout between champion Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington was expected to headline on that card as there was a lot of feud going on between the two welterweight heavyweights.
It is not that UFC didn't try to make Colby- Kamaru fight happen but the bout was not arranged because Colby did not like the offer UFC made to him as said by him.
Colby 'Chaos' Covington recently appeared on the Ariel Helwani show on Monday where he talked about how the talks for the awaited bout against Kamaru Usman was interrupted.
“My side of the story is, I’m ready to fight, I was ready to fight, but the UFC came to be with the basic challenger’s offer. I’m a champion. There was no negotiation. They came and ran at me and said, ‘Here, take this, or leave it and we’ll pass it on to the next person. That’s not fair negotiating and that’s not right. So I’m not going to take the first offer that you offer me.”
The former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion said.
It is not yet revealed how much money did UFC offer to Colby but he revealed that the amount was less than what he earned in a non-title bout against Robbie Lawler in August.
“We need to meet in the middle. There’s more that needs to be done. But also, I’m the A-side and you can’t even get the B-side done with Usman. Why are we even rushing this if you can’t get the B-side done?
Covington added.
“Usman didn’t want to fight anybody. He didn’t want to fight me. He didn’t want to fight my ex-best friend Jorge. He didn’t want to fight Leon Scott (Leon Edwards). The problem is Usman. The problem has nothing to do with me.”
Is Covington really the A-side here? Maybe?
Tough he might have 20000 less follower that Usman on twitter, UFC must really note he has US president Donald Trump backing him who could promote their show to the next level with his one tweet in support of Chaos
“What happened exactly was the UFC came to me and offered me a basic challenger’s rate. I said no, I’m not challenging. I’m champion. I’ve never lost, I just defended my title. I brought in the Trumps. I got a tweet from [Donald] Trump, that’s like $3.5 million in marketing. If you break down the analytics of it, in itself, just to promote their show."
Covington explained when speaking to MMA Fighting on Monday.
“They came with those hostage negotiations. They come and say ‘take this offer or we’ll just move onto the next person’. That’s not how negotiating works. I read ‘Art of the Deal’ from Donald Trump. I know how to work a deal and how deals work. They’re not going to take advantage of me and try to put me in a hostage position where they don’t give me any say or any room to negotiate. That’s not fair and it’s not right.”
Read More.Tyron Woodley talks about Mentoring Colby Covington in his Initial Days
