Jorge Masvidal knew what it was worth.
The only UFC “BMF” champion had done his research to understand the kind of money he was making and was not going to give up until the promotion came to him with a worthwhile offer. When that didn’t happen, Masvidal walked away from the negotiating table and the UFC chose to reserve Gilbert Burns against Kamaru Usman.
On Friday night, Masvidal and his team received a call from the UFC asking if he would like to discuss that discussion again because Burns tested positive for COVID-19 and wanted him to face Usman in the short term.
Twenty-four hours later, the UFC and Masvidal agreed to a new deal, and now the new UFC 251 main event is official.
“We had to break them down,” Masvidal told ESPN when asked how his deal with the UFC came to fruition in the short term. “That’s why some people don’t seem very happy to be announced, they didn’t want to talk about it too much. You can see it on their faces for their anger and anguish. I will always do my job, which is to provide for myself and my family, I will not give what nobody says, this guy says, that guy says.
“I have been in this business for a while. I know what I generate. We know what we generate. It’s a numbers game. The numbers are there. It’s not ‘I think I deserve this.’ No, I see on paper what I bring. My team and I know what I deserve. “
According to Masvidal, there were a lot of problems with the initial offer to fight Usman on July 11. Not only did the UFC fail to meet its back-end demands on pay-per-view earnings, but the money guaranteed upfront was unacceptable as well.
“I am not asking you to pay me something scandalous,” Masvidal explained. “No. I’m asking for more money than I can afford on the pay-per-view side, and that’s why we were fighting. We came to a pretty good deal, so I’m happy now.
“The initial agreement with [Kamaru Usman] It was a shitty deal on the pay-per-view side and the warranty side, so I have two negatives. I could understand that you don’t want to give me so much with the guarantee [money]. But in pay per view, what I bring, what people buy, I want more money than that and they did not move, and that was it. So all this madness had to happen for them to come back to their senses. “
With the new agreement, Masvidal admits that he did not get everything he wanted in the negotiations, but the terms were much more acceptable than what had been previously offered.
He is not discussing details, but Masvidal appears satisfied with his new contract as he prepares to fight for the welterweight title on Saturday night.
“Now I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, but I got really close,” Masvidal said. “So I’m taking the fight. I’m happier than anything because I can break this guy’s face and get paid for it. But one thing I am not going to do, that I have done for a large part of my career, is that I get underpaid. That will no longer happen. Not hereinafter.
“Since I returned from Mexico after the [Darren] Until the fight, my team and I sat down, discussed the numbers he had to be in and we needed to get it right very quickly. We are not there yet, but we are heading in that direction. So going forward after this fight, will they treat me accordingly or will I just step in at the last minute, six days to go and get paid, then I guess. They will pay me every time I go out. ”
While he had to sign a new contract extension because “you want to get paid, you have to sign a 10-fight contract every time,” Masvidal is a much happier fighter today than he was a week ago.
And apparently the UFC feels the same way.
“They love me,” Masvidal said of the promotion. “I just saved their real asses. I’m literally his favorite f ** king person in the world right now. “
With the contract negotiations in place and the official fight, Masvidal’s biggest concern now is how well prepared he could be after accepting a fight against the sport’s best welterweight six days in advance.
Well, Masvidal head coach Mike Brown previously told MMA Fighting that he had been working with the best fighters, including three-time NCAA champion Bo Nickal, as well as helping Dustin Poirier prepare for his recent fight against Dan Hooker.
Add to that after 48 professional bouts, Masvidal already knows how to fight and doesn’t see Usman as the kind of threat that requires three months of training.
“I am not in the form of Ben Askren because he is a great fighter or even fights with a guy like Darren Till,” said Masvidal. But am I fit for this tramp who is about to behead and baptize? Hell yeah.”
Despite late notification and a less-than-perfect training ground, Masvidal is no less certain of the results to be received on Saturday night.
In fact, it promises another standout reel ending, except this time he will become a UFC champion later.
“Me baptizing his butt in front of the whole world,” predicted Masvidal. Cold blooded as it can be. From his body [gasping] by air when I raised my hand over it.
“I’m going to baptize him for the world to see. It will be violent. It’s going to start violent. It will end with violence. “
