Rico Verhoeven has confirmed he was offered the prospect to hitch MMA’s premier promotion.
The kickboxing legend was linked to a fight with KO specialist Derrick Lewis at UFC 324 in January.
Now, the 36-year-old has opened up in regards to the ‘really decent offer’ he received from the UFC.
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Rico Verhoeven rejected the UFC for Anthony Joshua fight
Rico Verhoeven was set to face Anthony Joshua before the boxing superstar was involved in a automobile crash that claimed the lives of two of his friends.
‘The King of Kickboxing’ says the UFC, despite making a really respectable offer, didn’t come near matching the cash he could make within the ring.
“It was an honest offer,” Verhoeven said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “When you put the 2 next to one another, a giant crossover fight versus Anthony Joshua, with also a serious paycheck as well, or a crossover to the UFC, which is different.
“Derrick Lewis is a tremendous fighter, he’s name inside the UFC, but he doesn’t give me that stature I’m searching for. It was coming-in fight for transitioning to the UFC, but I used to be like, ‘Nah, let’s go for the Anthony Joshua fight.
“one hundred pc,” Verhoeven added when asked if the offer to face Joshua was ‘significantly better’ than the UFC’s financial proposal.
“It was an honest offer. I see a lot stuff on the web that’s definitely not true. The UFC just got here in like, ‘Oh, Rico is a no-name, so we’ll just give him a bulls— offer’. They didn’t try this.
“They treated me with numerous respect and gave me a very decent offer, especially by way of what they provide other fighters. I actually felt that, but with what I made inside Glory, it didn’t make an excessive amount of sense for me.”
Rico Verhoeven to fight Oleksandr Usyk for heavyweight world title
Anthony Joshua’s unlucky absence from boxing gave Rico Verhoeven a good larger opportunity.
Last Friday, it was announced he’d face Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight world title.
Since Terence Crawford’s retirement, Usyk is widely considered the most effective pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
In contrast, Verhoeven’s boxing record is 1-0, and he hasn’t competed in the game since his October 2015 debut.
The DAZN pay-per-view crossover bout will happen on the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on May 23.