Rico Verhoeven has confirmed he was offered the chance to join 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 about 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 car crash that claimed the lives of two of his friends.
‘The King of Kickboxing’ says the UFC, despite making a very respectable offer, didn’t come close to matching the money he could make in the ring.
“It was a decent offer,” Verhoeven said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “If you put the two next to each other, a big crossover fight versus Anthony Joshua, with also a serious paycheck as well, or a crossover to the UFC, which is different.
“Derrick Lewis is an amazing fighter, he’s a good name within the UFC, but he doesn’t give me that stature I’m looking for. It was a good coming-in fight for transitioning to the UFC, but I was like, ‘Nah, let’s go for the Anthony Joshua fight.
“100 percent,” Verhoeven added when asked if the offer to face Joshua was ‘much better’ than the UFC’s financial proposal.
“It was a decent offer. I see so much stuff on the internet that’s definitely not true. The UFC just came in like, ‘Oh, Rico is a no-name, so we’ll just give him a bulls— offer’. They did not do that.
“They treated me with a lot of respect and gave me a really decent offer, especially in terms of what they offer other fighters. I really felt that, but with what I made within Glory, it didn’t make too much sense for me.”
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Rico Verhoeven to fight Oleksandr Usyk for heavyweight world title
Anthony Joshua’s unfortunate absence from boxing gave Rico Verhoeven an even bigger 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 regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
In contrast, Verhoeven’s boxing record is 1-0, and he hasn’t competed in the sport since his October 2015 debut.
The DAZN pay-per-view crossover bout will take place at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on May 23.
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