Dana White finally sheds some light on why the UFC Welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington fell through for UFC 244.
Covington made the reasoning clear over the past few weeks, shaming the company for trying to low ball him with a weak offer and not wanting to negotiate, though the controversial fighter never gives the exact details on how much the promotion offered him.
Dana White confirms that the California native was looking for more money for his bout against Usman, with talks ultimately falling through on his end (transcript courtesy of
MMA Junkie):
"So here’s the thing with that, Obviously, you heard me say in interviews after (Diaz defeated Pettis) that was the fight I was going to make. So Colby Covington can say whatever he wants, but we make fights for a living. That’s what we do. We go after guys and we say, ‘This is next. This is the date. Do you want the fight?’ Obviously he wanted more money to fight Usman. We went back and forth.”
The UFC President never directly addresses the comments Covington made about the company over the last several weeks; however, White states that this isn't the first time that the 31-year-old has turned down a title fight as well:
“This is the second time he’s done it,” White said.
“He had a fight in Dallas, too. So we said, ‘If you don’t want to fight Usman then we’ll give you Tyron Woodley’. He turned down Tyron Woodley, too. You either want to fight or you don’t. When Colby Covington is willing to fight, he’ll let us know.”
Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz are now headlining UFC 244, with the winner becoming the BMF Champion.