Colby Covington’s title challenge against current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman had appeared to be in the works for UFC 244’s main event in NYC this November up until the promotion announced a change of plans that will see Nate Diaz vs Jorge Masvidal headline instead.
Now Covington has explained how financial issues got in the way of the deal taking place.
“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,” Covington told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “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.”
“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?
“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.”
