One of the UFC’s brightest stars is asking for some answers from his employer. Jorge Masvidal became a huge star during 2019 after he knocked out Darren Till, Ben Askren, and won the BMF title against Nate Diaz back at UFC 244. Masvidal’s huge year made him the number one contender in line to fight the winner of the Kamaru Usman/Colby Covington fight back in December. Usman went on to win that fight which would setup the big title fight with Masvidal. All year long, this fight was anticipated to headline the UFC‘s big July PPV. Even after the pandemic hit, the UFC seemed to be pushing to book this fight for July 11th. Those talks have come to a screeching halt.
There seemed to be some back and forth going on with negotiating the finances for the fight. Masvidal said in an interview with ESPN’s Kenny Mayne that when the Jon Jones situation was going on, he started taking a look at the holdup in his own negotiations. Masvidal stated that the UFC decided to pull his offer off the table, and offer the title fight to another fighter for a lot less money. He said that the fighter is willing to take the fight which leaves him in a weird position. We can all assume that the fighter he’s talking about would be Gilbert Burns. This week, Dana White said that Burns would likely be next for the title after his win against Tyron Woodley.
Revenue Split
Masvidal mentions in his interview that most major sports in America have about a 50/50 revenue split between the owners and the athletes. He mentions that the deal that was being offered to him or the athletes was for about 18% of the revenue. Upon investigating the numbers further, Masvidal wants answers from the UFC, which is why negotiations have gone south quickly. White came out this week and said that they will not beg anyone to fight with everything going on. There are a lot of fighters who just want action, but the top draws are still wanting their money.
Where to go?
To be honest, I’m really not sure where we are going to go from here. Gambred has mentioned that if he doesn’t get compensated fairly, he would like to be released. Masvidal joins Jon Jones as the second fighter to ask for a release due to failed negotiations with UFC brass. White came out this week said this week that he was confident the UFC would work things out with Jones. They will likely get this figured out with Masvidal as well. It’s clear that some issues have come to the surface recently between the UFC and some of their top athletes when it comes to fighter pay. With everything going on, Burns is likely going to get the next shot at Usman which will leave Masvidal without an opponent. Maybe the UFC tries to book a fight with Gamebred and his former friend, Colby Covington. Honestly, that fight might sell more than Masvidal’s fight with Kamaru Usman. Time will tell, but you can catch Masvidal’s entire interview with Kenny Mayne below.