The fighter, who has been embroiled in a battle with the UFC over fighter pay, says the promotion give him close to what he wanted to compete at UFC 251.
“I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, but I got very, very close to it,” Masvidal told Ariel Helwani of ESPN (via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “I’m happy more than anything because I get to break this guy’s face and get paid for it. But one thing I’m not going to do, which I’ve done a long part of my career, is get underpaid. That’s not going to happen no more – not from here going forward.”
Masvidal won’t reveal exactly what the UFC gave him for the title fight, but the fighter did say the deal was better than their last offer.
One of the ways that the UFC gave Masvidal a better deal has to do with the pay-per-view end of it all.
“The initial deal … was a (expletive) deal on the pay-per-view end and on the guarantee side, so I have two negatives,” Masvidal said. “I could understand you don’t want to give me that much on the guaranteed (money). But on the pay-per-view, what I bring in, what people purchase, I want more money on that – and they weren’t budging, and that was that. So all this craziness had to happen for them to come to their senses.”
UFC 251 takes place on Saturday, July 11 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada with Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
