UFC News - Kamaru Usman says rivalry with Jorge Masvidal is personal

Until recently, Jorge Masvidal was just another fighter trying to do well for himself in the eyes of UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. But since their altercation during Super Bowl media day accompanied by all the trash talking and exchange of verbal jibes on social media, things have changed completely.

It didn't take too long for things to get heated up between the pair, so much so that the champion also offered to defend his title against face Masvidal in the main event of the now called off UFC 249. The welterweight champion was ready to defend his title on short notice after it was revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov had pulled out due to travel restrictions in his native country, Russia.

Did Masvidal not want to fight Usman?

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' revealed that though he was ready to fight, the UFC informed him that Masvidal didn't agree to the terms of the contract being offered to him. Apparently, 'Gamebred' asked for a whopping $10 million to show up on the night and Usman believes it's just a clever way of saying he doesn't want to fight the champ right now, on short notice.

“I don’t know exactly what was said from their end, but I know when the UFC says something like that, it pretty much means they probably came out and said ‘we want $10 million’ where you know you’re not going to get [it] but that’s just easier way of turning down the fight than you actually saying ‘no, I don’t want to fight right now. I was ready to go. I was training and I was willing to do it to save the event but I guess he wasn’t.”

Usman revealed that the ugly back-and-forth on social media is what really made things personal between him and Masvidal. Usman believes it was Masvidal’s representatives doing the talking for him on social media and that is what irked him further.

“Yeah, it’s getting personal because when you allow your management to tweet certain things for you, to say certain things or certain words to people, you’re condoning that as well. So yeah, it’s turned into more of a personal situation.”

One thing is for sure, Usman and Masvidal will face each other inside the Octagon with the UFC welterweight title on the line in the near future. The fight was initially scheduled to go down on the UFC’s annual International Fight Week in July, although no official announcement was made in this regard.