Dana White responds to Jorge Masvidal’s request for release: “He just signed a new deal, 7 fights left”

UFC president Dana White responded to Jorge Masvidal’s request to be released, saying that the welterweight superstar recently signed a seven-fight deal.

Masvidal asked the UFC to release him this week, following in the footsteps of other stars like Jon Jones who are asking the UFC to pay them more money. Masvidal wants a bigger piece of the pie to go to MMA fighters and if that doesn’t happen he wants to be able to test the free market and see what his true value actually is.

Following UFC 250, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto asked White if he could respond to Masvidal’s request to be released. White criticized Okamoto for his question, saying that the UFC recently re-upped on a new contract with Masvidal.

Asked Dana White about Jorge Masvidal reiterating he'd like to be released from his contract. Said Masvidal just signed a new deal, 7 fights left. I asked him if he'd ever consider releasing Masvidal as he's requested. He said, 'That's the dumbest question you've ever asked me."

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 7, 2020

Asked Dana White about Jorge Masvidal reiterating he’d like to be released from his contract. Said Masvidal just signed a new deal, 7 fights left. I asked him if he’d ever consider releasing Masvidal as he’s requested. He said, ‘That’s the dumbest question you’ve ever asked me.”

We don’t have the exact details, but it is fair to assume Masvidal renegotiated a new contract with the UFC prior to fighting Nate Diaz last November in the main event of UFC 244. That was the first pay-per-view event headliner for Masvidal and the show did very well on PPV and at the gate for the UFC.

Although Masvidal made more from the Diaz fight than any of his other fights in the UFC, he still believes he is worth a bigger piece of the pie, and when you compare how much money the UFC makes to what it pays the fighters, he isn’t wrong. White so far is not budging, but if enough fighters put pressure on the UFC, perhaps White will be forced to re-look the way the UFC does its deals.

Do you think Dana White will release Jorge Masvidal?