Lorenz Larkin Says UFC’s Recent Offer Was A Slap In The Face

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Lorenz Larkin spoke about his free agency after not signing with the UFC. His last fight for the promotion was against Neil Magny at UFC 202 in August. Here are highlights:

On the UFC’s renewal offer: “I’m kind of disappointed when it comes to the whole side of the UFC because it’s such a long waiting period, especially when everything first happened, the way it came to me (about) re-signing a new deal before my Magny fight. I just thought the offer they threw at me was kind of a slap in the face and I didn’t want to agree to that. So we were like ‘ok, just fight your last fight of the contract,’ and I felt like that was a slap in the face because I kind of felt like they are betting against me, you know what I mean? It was just kind of like, ‘Magny is on a tear, he’s the beast and his accomplishments speak for itself,’ and I felt like the UFC was like ‘he’ll take this fight, he probably won’t get past Magny, and then we’ll re-sign him.’”

On how free agency benefits the UFC: “I try to look at everything from a fighter’s aspect and from a business aspect, and from a business’s aspect, I get it. There are not too many guys that wanna wait three months and they just accept whatever is thrown at him. So that three months, I felt that those three months puts in you that mode that you don’t really wanna wait. You just kind of wanna get things settled and go with the flow, go with it. That three months thing is tailored towards them. I know they are very interested. I think things since my fight have been really chaotic with the UFC, with everything that’s happened. I’m pretty sure I’ll know something within a week or so. I’m hoping for.”

On being confident he’ll get what he wants: “I think I’m gonna get what I’m happy with. I have all the tools for anything that makes sense. I feel like I’m exciting, I feel like I bring it every time I get in there, and in a style that people like to see. I feel like I have the tools that argue with the point I’m trying to make.”