Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa hasn’t had much luck finding opposition it seems. The “Poster Boy” rebounded from a knockout loss to Anthony Johnson by delivering a knockout of his own. Manuwa’s victim was former interim title contender Ovince Saint Preux back in October.
Since that time, Manuwa said he’s tried to step inside the Octagon with three 205-pounders. He told Flo Combat that all of them avoided him. First was Glover Teixeira:
“I signed the contract and everything and then they went and scrapped the card. They then asked me to fight him in Denver, Colorado at altitude so I would’ve had to go [through] massive expenses flying my team out there for [a] month. I told them that and tried to negotiate with them, but they said no. So then I said I’d fight him on the Brooklyn card [UFC 208]. They were then considering it and I told them I really wanted to fight Glover because it makes good sense for everyone.”
“They came back to me and said that Brooklyn was a no go. The next thing I know, Teixeira is fighting some guy that’s not even in the top 15 [Jared Cannonier]. It makes zero sense to anybody. Why does that fight make sense? I don’t understand it.”
Next on Manuwa’s radar was Ryan Bader. The problem there is that “Darth” is currently a free agent and Bellator is looking to scoop him up.
“After that happened, I said give me Bader, it’s another one that makes sense because he’s ranked above me and I think it will be another good fight. They came back to me and said that Bader was a no go because of his contract situation. I was thinking, ‘why does no one want to fight?'”
The final straw was when Manuwa couldn’t secure a bout with former UFC champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
“They came back and they said no–Shogun said no. I was just like, ‘what the f*ck is going on here?’ Where is everyone? I hate calling people out and saying people’s names, but now I can understand why they do it. There’s way too much cherry picking going on and people that just want to hold on to their spot.”
Luckily for Manuwa, Corey Anderson stepped up to take the challenge. They will be competing at a UFC Fight Night event in London on March 18.
