The following is an excerpt from an interview-column by Sam Caplan on the CBS Sportsline website:
Sokoudjou has also reportedly been offered a UFC spot.
However, the offer apparently wasn't too flattering.
Sokoudjou confirmed that the UFC contacted Team Quest about the possibly of signing him. When asked if he found the offer to be insulting, he didn't address the question directly, but he did acknowledge that his understanding was that the UFC's proposal was lower than what he was making in Pride.
“Dan Henderson and Ryan Parsons have been doing business for over ten years and they know what my value is in the fighting business,” Sokoudjou said. “All I care about in the fight business is where I'm going to fight right now. I trust them to do what they think is best for me business-wise for me to make the most money out of my skills.”
Sokoudjou is leaving the primary task of negotiating his next contract to his management team at Team Quest, Parsons and Henderson. Despite a strong command of the English language, Sokoudjou doesn't feel his English is good enough to be analyzing the finer points of thick contracts filled with legalese.
In an interview last week, Henderson commented on Sokoudjou's current contract status, stating that they recently fielded an offer from the UFC that was “insulting.”
While Parsons and Henderson deal with most of the details, Sokoudjou isn't so far removed from contract talks that he doesn't know what's going on. He claims that there are multiple offers on the table and that he should know soon where he'll be fighting next.
“I'm still waiting on different options, and I'm pretty sure by the end of the week, I'll know where I'll be fighting,” said the 2001 U.S. Open judo champion.
Sokoudjou said that there are plenty of suitors at his doorstep, besides UFC.
“There's tons of them, so many I can't even name,” he said. However, he would later identify K-1 and Bodog as two of the promotions pursuing him.
To read the complete article with more details on the situation, click here.
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