Den ursprungliga tanken var att Leslie Smith skulle möta Aspen Ladd under helgens UFC Fight Night 128. Efter att Ladd missade vikten under invägningarna var det upp till Leslie Smith om matchen skulle fortsätta. Smith, som endast hade en match kvar på sitt kontrakt, ska ha erbjudit sig att ta matchen om hennes kontrakt förlängdes. UFC ska dock ha tackat nej till att förlänga kontraktet och istället valt att enbart betala Smith de pengar hon skulle fått vid en vinst.
I figured I had some leverage in the situation. I told the UFC that I would be willing to take the fight as long as they extended my contract. They did not want to extend my contract. Instead, they said they would pay me my win bonus in addition to my show money and that would fulfill the fight on my contract and they would not be extending it. It feels like the UFC is paying me off to go away.
Smith berättar dock att hon övervägde att ta matchen mot Ladd ändå, men hon berättar även att hon skulle fått betalt oavsett och matchen i sådant fall endast skulle skett på grund av hennes stolthet.
I considered fighting Aspen anyway, purely out of pride but if I had done that, it would have been purely pride. And I would have been fighting for free since I was already getting paid the money. Fighting for free out of pride is everything that I have been speaking out against. It’s not everything — there’s more to it. The manipulation of the fighters through pride was something that I felt pretty strongly about. So I’m not fighting her, because I don’t feel like I should fight for free.
UFC har ännu inte kommenterat situationen vidare än att matchen är inställd.
