One of the biggest storylines prior to Justin Gaethje beating Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324 was his comments about his pay situation with the UFC.

At media day for the event this past Saturday, Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) said the fact he’d yet to accumulate $ 1 million in fight night bonus money for his career was “not right,” and revealed he would not be paid “one dollar more” for his fight vs. Pimblett, despite UFC 324 being the first event in a new $ 7.7 billion rights agreement with Paramount.

Less than 24 hours later, UFC CEO Dana White said in a coy manner that Gaethje had been presented more money but “never responded,” which only led to further discourse. Gaethje brushed off any further discussion about the situation throughout fight week, and after his unanimous decision win over Pimblett, said post-fight that he was “very happy” with where things stood and “hopefully I have a good manager and he’ll renegotiate my contract.”

That manager is Ali Abdelaziz of Dominance MMA, who did not refute White’s comments about an offer being made, but said the statement lacked nuance.

“Dana was right. There was an offer made. It was made,” Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. “But sometimes it’s a little bit more money. Dana was not lying. But in reality, Justin, maybe he was not OK with the offer. But everything worked out correctly. Justin is good. Now we get to talk. I always go for the athletes, we’re all men, we all have testosterone and Justin is emotional. He speaks. Justin is not lying. Nobody in the UFC deserves to make more money than Justin Gaethje. I don’t give a sh*t. Nobody.

“I was talking to Islam Makhachev yesterday and he’s like, ‘In the Hall of Fame, he should be the first one. To make money, he should be the first one.’ Islam Makhachev is the pound-for-pound king and he’s saying that about Justin Gaethje. Normally they’re like, ‘I’m the man, I need to make more money.’ But in a way, if you think you’re worth money and you want to talk about it, we can talk about it behind closed doors. I think nobody wins when people talk about money publicly.

“I would never ignore Dana’s message. I respect him as a man too much. I’m never going to ignore Hunter (Campbell’s) message. But at the end of the day, Dana was not lying. But we’re going to move on and we’re going to do good business. Everything will be good.”

Gaethje, 37, spoke repeatedly post-fight about how he “bet on himself” (not literally) going into UFC 324, where he was pegged as the underdog to Pimblett from the time the fight was announced to the moment he stepped into the octagon.

That would indicate he felt there was a better offer on the other side of an upset win, and Abdelaziz backed that notion. Abdelaziz said that even with Gaethje’s impeccable track record of performing in the most exciting of ways, the UFC’s business practices consist of constant evaluation, and UFC 324 was another reminder about why he’s called “The Highlight.”

“Negotiations, it’s if you deliver, I will try to negotiate. If you don’t deliver, I can’t negotiate,” Abdelaziz said. “Justin Gaethje delivered. This is how the UFC has always worked. I don’t care what people say. When you deliver and show you’re this guy, you will get taken care of. … Justin Gaethje loves being in the UFC, he loves being a UFC fighter and there’s no beef. There’s no beef between the UFC and Justin Gaethje. Justin Gaethje is like every athlete in the world, wanting to get paid a lot, a lot of money. If anyone deserves, it’s him. And guess what? This is my job to negotiate for him and do what I can do.

“At the end of the day everyone is good, everyone is happy and there’s no beef. … It is a big deal, because he fights at the highest level and wants to get paid. But also, business gets conducted behind closed doors, like I say. And if the athlete says something just out of emotion, Dana understands. The UFC understands. It’s not like they called me and were like, ‘What did he say?’ Nobody said nothing to me. Nobody complained to me. Everyone just said, ‘Focus on your fight and we’ll talk.’ That’s it. But there’s no beef. Zero.”

Part of Abdelaziz’s future conversations with the UFC about Gaethje will be pushing to get his client a much-desired spot on the UFC White House card in June for a title unification showdown with unbeaten champion Ilia Topuria.

Gaethje has insisted he will be fighting on that card regardless of if Topuria is his opponent or not, and Abdelaziz wants to make that happen for him. But his perspective is not only does Gaethje deserve to be on the historic card – he should be the one headlining it.

“Nobody deserves anything more in the UFC than Justin Gaethje – nobody,” Abdelaziz aid. “Not Jon Jones. Not Ilia Topuria. Nobody deserves more than him. And when you talk about credibility? He has the credibility. You can trust him. He never pulled out of a fight in the UFC or outside of the UFC. Never in his career. That’s why UFC trusts him.

“I think Justin Gaethje should headline the White House. He should be the main event because we know he’s not going to get caught doing drugs or steroids or going to jail. Whatever it is. He’s going to show up. He’s credible. Over 30 fights, he’s showed up every time and he’s a fan-favorite and an American. A true American hero in the UFC.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ali Abdelaziz explains Dana White’s comment on Justin Gaethje’s pay