I suspect that Nate did come to an agreement with the UFC prior to his contract expiring and that agreement is a secret. I don’t know if he signed any contract, but the agreement includes that Nate can box in other orgs, but he can’t do any mma fights outside the UFC. I think they came to this agreement prior to his fight with Ferguson, and I think the UFC has promised him a big contract or reward if he stays loyal to this agreement.
I suspect this because-
A. After more than a year of the UFC trying to pressure Nate to fight Khamzat and only Khamzat, they were suddenly ok with changing his opponent to an ideal one for Nate’s last fight in Tony Ferguson.
B. Amid contract negotiations that were in stalemate for more than a year, the relationship between Nate and the UFC suddenly did a 180 overnight and Nate seems to have more positive things to say about the UFC now than negative. Nate is effectively promoting the UFC now even though he’s no longer signed.
C. Nate rejects a $10 mil offer to fight Jake Paul because he won’t fight for PFL. He still seems very loyal to the UFC and now wants to return at 300.