Artem Vakhitov refused because he did not like the offers he received from the UFC.
Vakhitov is an elite kickboxer and will be taking on long-time heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven in the main event of the Glory 100 tomorrow. Before signing a new contract with Glory, he won the UFC contract with a halted victory in the Dana White series. Despite his extensive achievements as a Kickboxer, this includes a victory over former UFC champion Alex Pereira, but it was a standard competitor series deal. In other words, five digits lower for each battle. He fought for a much bigger wallet as a kickboxer and refused.
“Of course, we were close to that goal (in the UFC) for quite some time, which made us a bit disappointed,” Vakitov said the MMA will fight before the glory 100.
If Vakhitov had signed with the UFC, he could have been able to follow the path to a high-profile MMA rematch with Pereira. They still have a score that clearly resolves.
That seems impossible any longer, but the 34-year-old Russian has not ruled out any future UFC moves.
“That’s very possible because the story isn’t over,” Vakitov said. “We’ll have this fight and then we’ll see.”
