The manager of Jorge Masvidal gives details on negotiations for UFC 251 main event
Jorge Masvidal getting his title shot at UFC 251 was definitely a tale worth knowing more details about. Gambred and the standoff that he had engaged with the UFC over contract negotiations for a title fight was the talk of the town.
The moment, Gilbert Burns took the decision to accept the challenge to fight Kamaru Usman, it looked like Jorge Masvidal might never fight for the title. The company had moved beyond him was the message many got. However, a positive Coronavirus test resulted in Jorge Masvidal getting an amazing opportunity and he capitalized on it.
Manager of Jorge Masvidal explains how the fight materialized
Per the manager of Jorge Masvidal, up until the 4th of July, the fight wasn't something they were thinking about. He said, in an interview with MMA Fighting, that Jorge Masvidal was in touch with him and was focused on getting the fight done but the UFC wasn't budging.
“As of Friday night, we definitely didn’t have a deal done,” The manager of Jorge Masvidal said “As of Saturday morning, we didn’t have a deal done so it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. About noontime, I want to say 12:30 or so, Jorge shows up at my house, we’re having a 4th of July barbecue. We’re hanging out and talking and as soon as he walked in the house he said ‘they’re not moving on the fight?’ and I said no, not at all. He was like ‘what the f*ck’s wrong with these guys?’ something to that effect.”
That is when the news around the COVID testing started and that is when Jorge Masvidal and his team got the call. Per this statement, Jorge Masvidal got a call, the UFC and his team started negotiations and then the call of testing comes up. Jorge Masvidal was tested soon and that is how the fight got done.
“I picked up the phone, called over there, I got Hunter Campbell on the phone and we started talking,” Kawa explained. “It was me, him and Jorge on the phone at first. Then [my brother] Abraham showed up like 30 or 45 minutes later, we just put our heads together between Hunter, my brother, myself and Jorge and we started hashing this whole thing out.
Things moved very rapidly for Jorge Masvidal and his team from that point onwards. They started discussing, logistics, and other things. The fight was happening.
“Before you know it, it started looking a certain way so then there’s the [COVID-19] testing, so I got them tested. Other things started popping up as far as the logistics, charters, all this stuff but as we started to talk it through, we started to really believe we could get this done. Then we got it done and everything else is obviously history.”
Jorge Masvidal is finally giving the fight fans what they want and UFC 251 seems to be the most awaited fight card in a long time