UFC lightweight champion ilia Topuria’s manager Malki Kawa has admitted that negotiations for a super-fight against welterweight champion Islam Makhachev at the UFC: White House event in June fell through due to a failure to see eye-to-eye on the financial side of the deal.

“We were focused on getting an Islam fight,” Topuria revealed on the Anik & Florian podcast. “Then on Wednesday I was asked, ‘Would you guys want to do [Islam] or [Gaethje]?’ We said absolutely [Islam].

“They gave us a number, and we said absolutely not. After that, we didn’t hear anything. The money that was offered was small…it was more like, ‘If this fight could happen, here are the numbers.’ And we were like, not at those numbers.”

“So, to me, there was no fight going on as of Wednesday afternoon. They couldn’t get there and it fell apart, so then they moved on to other stuff.”

“Now, one thing I will say though is, I do believe when I got that call on Wednesday, they were talking to everybody. That’s why when [Dana] says these guys weren’t supposed to be on the card, I believe that. Because even the way it was said to me, ‘Who do you want to fight? You guys can fight this guy, you guys can fight that guy,’ the money that was offered was small in comparison to what we had already said we wanted to fight those guys from before.

“Whether it was White House card, International Fight Week or it’s next week, it doesn’t matter,” Kawa added. “It was more about getting the numbers. And when the numbers came, it was more like, ‘If this fight could happen, here’s the numbers that you guys down for.’ And we’re like, ‘Not at those numbers.’ So there was no fight.”