UFC: Jorge Masvidal moving on to Nate Diaz because Kamaru Usman wants ‘insane money’
- Masvidal tells Usman ‘you’re not a draw, nobody knows you’ after negotiations stall
- Diaz ‘is ready to go and willing to go’ for a ‘BMF’ title rematch says ‘Gamebred’
Jorge Masvidal has blamed negotiations falling apart with Kamaru Usman on the UFC welterweight champion’s “absurd” financial demands.
“Gamebred” is moving back towards a rematch with Nate Diaz, whom he beat by TKO on a doctor stoppage after the third round of their UFC 244 main event in Madison Square Garden last November.
UFC president Dana White had been lining up Masvidal as Usman’s next challenger for July, but the “BMF” champion is happy to run it back with Diaz and then challenge “The Nigerian Nightmare” later this year.
“Kamaru has asked for an insane amount of money,” Masvidal told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “He had one of the worst pay-per-view cards of 2019. I had the best – just by numbers. This is not an opinion. I had the most sold pay-per-views of 2019. So he thinks he’s hit the jackpot and he’s asking crazy money from the UFC. The UFC has told him, ‘No,’ on several occasions.”
Usman beat Colby Covington by fifth-round TKO at UFC 245 in December, in a fight that was first targeted for UFC 244 – only for the two fighters’ demands to see the promotion move on to Diaz vs Masvidal.
