After Verhoeven became a free agent following the termination of his deal with GLORY kickboxing, the UFC was after the elite striker. Still, Verhoeven shocked many when he finally struck a deal to sign Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight champion.
It’s a great fight and Verhoeven said the UFC’s offer was good, but they offered him to face Derrick Lewis in his debut. However, Verhoeven said he wanted a bigger challenge, which is why he took the boxing fight, which was originally going to be Anthony Joshua.
“It was decent. It was a decent offer,” Verhoeven said on “The Ariel Helwani Show” (via MMA Junkie). “But like I said, you just put the two side by side. A big crossover fight against Anthony Joshua with a serious paycheck too – or a crossover to the UFC, which is different. Derrick Lewis is a great fighter.”
“He’s a good name in the UFC, but he’s not getting the status I’m looking for. I don’t know. It was a good coming-in fight for the transition to the UFC. But I thought, ‘No, let’s go for the Anthony Joshua fight.’ So that’s what happened.”
Rico Verhoeven said UFC showed respect in the contract offer
Although Verhoeven did not sign with the UFC, he said the pay was more than fair.
But because of his success in kickboxing, Verhoeven felt like he had to box because it made more sense to him.
One hundred percent,” said Verhoeven. “…It came close. … It was a decent offer. I see so many things on the internet. That is definitely not true. Like, oh, the UFC just came in and said, ‘Rico doesn’t have a name, so we’re just going to give him a bullshit offer.’
“They definitely didn’t do that. They treated me with a lot of respect and gave me a very decent offer, especially in terms of what they have to offer other fighters. I really felt that. But within the sport of martial arts in general and what I’ve created within GLORY, I’m like, ‘It doesn’t make any sense to me.'”
Rico Verhoeven is 1-0 as a professional boxer, but his debut came in 2014. In kickboxing, Verhoeven was GLORY’s longest reigning heavyweight champion, while also defending the title a record thirteen times.
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