{"id":6762,"date":"2026-03-04T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=6762"},"modified":"2026-03-04T17:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:16:06","slug":"why-rico-verhoeven-turned-down-the-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/why-rico-verhoeven-turned-down-the-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rico Verhoeven Turned Down the UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2368\" data-end=\"2665\">At a defining crossroads in his career, <strong data-start=\"2408\" data-end=\"2449\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Rico Verhoeven<\/span><\/span><\/strong> faced a pivotal decision: transition to MMA through the <strong data-start=\"2506\" data-end=\"2547\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Ultimate Fighting Championship<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, or pursue a historic boxing showdown against unified heavyweight champion <strong data-start=\"2623\" data-end=\"2664\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Oleksandr Usyk<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2667\" data-end=\"2790\">This was never just about signing a contract. It was about strategic positioning within the global combat sports hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2792\" data-end=\"3060\">Speaking on the <strong data-start=\"2808\" data-end=\"2849\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">The Ariel Helwani Show<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, Verhoeven dismissed online speculation that the UFC\u2019s proposal was lowball. According to him, it was \u201ca correct offer\u201d \u2014 respectful and competitive, especially compared to what many fighters typically receive.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rico Verhoeven shares some of the details behind the offer he received from the UFC:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a decent offer. They treated me with a lot of respect and gave me a really strong offer \u2014 especially compared to what they offer other fighters.<\/p>\n<p>Within the sport of martial arts in\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/i0m17QOt4Z\">pic.twitter.com\/i0m17QOt4Z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arielhelwani\/status\/2028913836682871130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3062\" data-end=\"3383\">The projected UFC debut would likely have been against <strong data-start=\"3117\" data-end=\"3160\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Derrick Lewis<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, a legitimate and dangerous heavyweight. From a sporting standpoint, it made sense as a gateway into MMA. But in terms of global symbolism and crossover magnitude, it lacked the transformative impact Verhoeven was seeking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3385\" data-end=\"3726\">On the other side stood boxing \u2014 a discipline that still commands the highest purses at heavyweight level. Verhoeven noted that the UFC offer was close to what he earns in <strong data-start=\"3557\" data-end=\"3600\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">GLORY<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, the organization where he built his legacy. Yet financially and commercially, a mega-boxing event offered a larger platform.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3728\" data-end=\"3932\">The May 23 clash at the Pyramids of Giza is more than a fight. It is a spectacle engineered for global resonance: a dominant kickboxing champion challenging an undefeated boxing king in an iconic setting.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3934\" data-end=\"4192\">Ultimately, Verhoeven\u2019s decision highlights a broader structural truth: while MMA continues to grow, boxing remains unmatched in financial scale for heavyweight super-fights. He did not reject the UFC \u2014 he chose timing, leverage, and maximum global exposure.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"4194\" data-end=\"4289\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">A calculated risk.<br data-start=\"4212\" data-end=\"4215\" \/>But one aligned with the ambitions of a champion thinking beyond the cage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a defining crossroads in his career, Rico Verhoeven faced a pivotal decision: transition to MMA through the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or pursue a historic boxing showdown against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. This was never just about signing a contract. It was about strategic positioning within the global combat sports hierarchy. Speaking on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,33,88,19,45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glory-video","8":"category-glory","9":"category-kickboxing-muay-thai","10":"category-kick-kickboxing-muay-thai","11":"category-mma","12":"category-mma-video","13":"category-ufc-news","14":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6764,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6762\/revisions\/6764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}