DENZEL BENTLEY insists he didn’t choose money over legacy with his shock move to Zuffa Boxing – despite it costing him the WBO middleweight title.

The Battersea bruiser signed a multi-fight deal with the American upstart promotion, which is fronted by UFC supremo Dana White, last month, despite having a mandatory defence against Yoenli Hernandez in the pipeline.

Bentley, 31, was stripped of the belt earlier this month after the WBO refused to sanction his Zuffa debut against Shane Mosley Jr at the Copper Box on Saturday night as a voluntary title defence.

Zuffa – who have the financial backing of Saudi supremo Turki Alalshikh – have been splashing the cash to add top talent to their stable, but Bentley insists the promotion’s deep pockets played no role in his decision to join them.

He told SunSport: “I didn’t vacate my belt to join Zuffa for money. Of course everyone’s going around and they’ve seen Zuffa offering big money.

“But the deal I was offered could have been offered to me by Frank Warren or Eddie Hearn. I’m not being paid £15million.

“I came here because of the plan they had for me and the value they had for me, which I hadn’t had anywhere else, in my opinion.

“I saw that they wanted to push me and, of course, them being with Sky, who are the biggest broadcaster in the nation, that was one thing that got me to sign.

“In terms of the legacy stuff, if I hadn’t been stripped, I’d be defending my title against a great name like Shane Mosley Junior, who holds his father’s legacy, his father’s name and wants to break out of that shadow.”

Unification fights with IBF and WBC 160lbs champs Aaron McKenna and Carlos Adames, who are both under the Zuffa banner, could’ve potentially been on the cards for Bentley had he not been unceremoniously stripped.

He added: “The other two champions at my weight class are under this banner and I could have unified with them – then there’s one more fight to become undisputed.

“If that’s not legacy in itself, then I don’t know what it is. Because I didn’t vacate the belt, they took it from me and stripped me because they weren’t happy with the moves I made – and that’s fine.

“But if the other two champions are under this banner, how was I gonna get the chance to unify being anywhere else?

“So it sounds good saying, ‘You chase money over legacy.’ But I didn’t drop my belt for this move.

“I put in an appeal to actually remain champion and defend the title moving forward and we weren’t granted that opportunity.

“And, now moving forward, I have to basically come through again as a challenger and work my way back to becoming champion again, which I’m going to do.

“I guess only time will tell and by the end of my career, then we’ll be able to decide whether I chose money over legacy.

“But as I said, it is very important to get paid for what we do.”

Mosley Jr, the son of three-weight world champion Shane Mosley, will look to punch his own ticket to title contention with the biggest win of his career on foreign soil.

And Bentley reckons the American’s bid to prove he’s more than a chip off the old block makes him one of the most dangerous opponents of his career.

He said: “People think he got there because of his dad’s name.

“Whether that’s true or not, he wants to break out of that so he can sit there and be like, ‘I’ve done this myself.’

“So that is dangerous, because you’re fighting against someone that really has a point to prove. But I’ve got a point to prove as well.

“I’ve got a chip on my shoulder and some things to iron out in my career. So I think that’s what makes it a good fight.”