It appears that Mike Davis won’t be fighting Jai Herbert at UFC London.
Promotion officials announced that Davis (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) would be heading into enemy territory to meet Herbert (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) March 19 at the O2 Arena, but according to Davis, the fight is no longer happening.
Speaking to Fight Bananas, Davis said while he’s still game to face Herbert, he’s not keen on competing in the U.K. for various reasons.
“First thing’s first, I want to apologize for that,” Davis said. “There are a couple of things at play, some variables that don’t make sense to take this fight. Herbert, amazing opponent, good fight, good card, good promotion, good arena. I was excited to go, but there are some things that people don’t know about in the athlete world, going forth as a professional athlete. Traveling overseas, they do income tax where it is obnoxiously – the amount is obnoxious. So take it this way: If I was to fight in London once and in the United States once, they’re gonna tax me 50 percent of my purse.
“My entire global income will be taxed by U.K. and by the U.S. Then I gotta pay management, and I gotta pay camp then I gotta pay gym, so I’m going home with like 5 percent of my purse, 7 percent of my purse, so it just doesn’t make sense to take the fight. However, I like the matchup. Jai Herbert, if you want to take the fight in the States sometime in the future, I’m all for it. An amazing matchup, good fighter, I love your skillset, it’ll be a fun fight to watch, fans would love it if we could set that up in the future here in the States.”
Davis also added that traveling halfway across the world for his past fight had him not performing his best, despite outlasting Mason Jones in a “Fight of the Night” effort at UFC on ESPN 20.
“Last time I performed in Abu Dhabi, I didn’t feel great,” Davis said. “I couldn’t sleep, it was a very disruptive performance for me, and I don’t wanna go down that path again. I want to figure out how I can travel and still sleep and perform the way I do here in the States. I do look forward to getting another opponent soon. I mean, the fight is off, but I’m ready to go April, May, June. Let’s go.”
Herbert took to social media to confirm the news, but alluded to the fact that he intends to stay on the London card.
Opponent is out, but my focus remains the same #ufclondon
— jai-herbert (@jaiherbert2) February 12, 2022
“Opponent is out, but my focus remains the same #ufclondon.”
