Shane Burgos is the latest fighter to depart Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for Professional Fighters League (PFL) … but apparently, that should never have happened.
The consistently entertaining Featherweight hopeful fought the last fight on his UFC contract last month (July 16, 2022) at UFC Long Island, earning a majority decision victory over Charles Jourdain. When it came to matching other organizations’ offers in free agency, UFC President, Dana White, admits to fumbling the deal with “Hurricane.”
“That’s a good question,” White told Yahoo Sports when asked why the company didn’t keep Burgos. “How do I answer that question? Basically, there were some mistakes that were made here, some s—t that … he should have still been here. I respect him very much and I wish him the best. A hundred percent [mistakes were made on the UFC side]. A hundred percent. Big mistakes were made over here.”
Following Burgos’ Jourdain win that put him back on a winning streak, White expressed to the media backstage at UFC Long Island that he intended on re-upping Burgos’ contract, labeling him a “savage” who is always fun to watch. For the man himself, the 31-year-old just couldn’t pass up this new opportunity.
“It was that good of a deal,” Burgos said. “Last time [I negotiated with the PFL] it was relatively close, that’s why I was like, ‘It’s not that big of a difference.’ It was a bigger difference [this time]. It was a six-figure difference back then what I was going to get paid from the PFL and I turned that down to stay with the UFC. Now, it’s obviously bigger than that. When it’s all said and done after the first season — obviously, I plan on winning — I’ll be a multi-millionaire.”