Free agent update: Henderson to meet with UFC this week, Sterling clear to seek offers

Benson Henderson

With a number of big-name UFC fighters currently seeking their value on the open market – all of them represented by the Florida-based firm First Round Management – the firm’s CEO, Malki Kawa, admits he’s not sure if we’re seeing a new era in contract negotiations or simply an interesting anomaly.

“I don’t know if this is necessarily going to be a wave of the future,” Kawa told MMAjunkie. “I can tell you I’ve been doing this in the UFC for about seven years, eight years now, and this is the first time I’ve been in a position where I’ve had four clients all in the same month just become free agents. If I told you that I planned this out, I’d be lying to you because that’s not what happened.”

Nevertheless, Kawa and his firm are currently working with Benson Henderson, Aljamain Sterling, Alistair Overeem and Sarah Kaufman, all of whom fought out their UFC contracts within the past month.

Benson Henderson and Jorge Masvidal

The first high-profile athlete to complete his deal was Henderson (23-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC), the former UFC lightweight champion who notched a pair of welterweight victories in 2015, most recently over Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night 79 in South Korea. While Henderson’s coach, John Crouch, is currently handling his day-to-day management duties, Kawa’s firm is still assisting with contract talks, and Kawa said his partner, Wayne Harriman, is set to meet with the UFC this week.

“My partner Wayne actually is meeting with the UFC this week to start negotiating his deal,” Kawa said. “They’ll make an offer, they’ll hear Ben out, and we’ll go from there. If Ben wants to shop around and see what it is, they’ll probably let him do it. Then he’ll go get an offer and bring it back to them, and they’ll have an option to match it or let him go.

“I think they’re going to do that rather fast as opposed to slow. I think that from a matchmaking standpoint, they have to get their plans together for 2016.”

Crouch wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Kawa said the promotion typically works fast, as in the case of bantamweight Sterling (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who completed his deal on Dec. 10 with a second-round submission win over Johnny Eduardo at UFC Fight Night 80.

Aljamain Sterling

While the UFC typically retains exclusive negotiating rights for fighters for the first 90 days after their contract expires, Kawa said the UFC was happy to waive that period for Sterling when the two sides didn’t agree on a new deal. The UFC still maintains matching rights, meaning they can decide whether or not to match any formal offer made by a competing promotion.

“Aljamain’s case it was, ‘Here you go. If you think guys can get a better deal than what we’re offering, then go ahead and go look around and bring it back,’ and that’s where we are with Aljamain,” Kawa said. “I didn’t have to wait 90 days. I think the UFC, with having so many shows and having so much stuff going on, them holding a guy doesn’t make any sense for them either. Let’s move forward. Are we making this happen or not?

“‘Why don’t you go see what he’s worth, and come back and let’s talk when you have some solid numbers. Let’s not pull numbers out of the air.’ And I appreciated that. That’s something that worked out for Aljamain.”

Kawa said he expects similar treatment for Overeem (40-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Kaufman (17-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC), but with both finishing up their existing deals at this past weekend’s UFC on FOX 17 event, it’s simply too soon to know exactly how negotiations will proceed.

“Sarah Kaufman and Alistair Overeem just fought on Saturday, so we’re going to talk to the UFC first,” Kawa said.

In the meantime, Kawa will have some busy days ahead, as he assists four high-profile free agents test their value. Whether or not this period becomes a seminal moment in contract negotiations remains to be seen, but Kawa insists he really isn’t looking beyond the task at hand, which is to help those fighters maximize their values and achieve their personal goals.

“This is just business as usual,” Kawa said. “In the agent business, you have to be prepared for free agency – this isn’t the first time, it won’t be the last time – making smart decisions and hoping that negotiations go well. The only thing I really can’t control is what the UFC is going to decide to do as far as what offer they make and what other offers are going to be out there. All I can do is just do my job and do the best I can to get the goals that these guys have done. If I can do that, everything will be fine.

“In any negotiation, you really win when both sides can win – when they feel good and we feel good. If that can happen, that’s what I look forward to try to make happen. Hey, you want to re-sign Alistair Overeem, Benson Henderson? You want to re-sign Aljamain Sterling? Let’s make that happen. At the same time, the ones who have to really feel comfortable with it are Alistair Overeem, Ben Henderson and Aljamain Sterling, and any free agent has to feel good signing that contract. I think the UFC, from that standpoint, doesn’t want somebody to sign with them that’s unhappy with them. They want guys to be happy, too.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.