The PFL has introduced the discharge of former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi following a contractual dispute turned public.
At some point after Mousasi (49-9-2) referred to as the promotion “the worst group” and threatened authorized motion in an interview with “The MMA Hour,” PFL Head of Fighter Operations Mike Kogan launched a press release on social media saying the roster transfer.
“Bellator has launched Gegard Mousasi from his settlement,” Kogan wrote. “We want him all the very best combating in his subsequent chapter.”
Whereas Mousasi has but to remark publicly on the scenario, his supervisor Nima Safapour, of Moments Administration, referred to the discharge as “alleged” and disputed PFL’s “fighter first” mantra.
“We is not going to touch upon the deserves of the alleged launch at the moment for apparent causes,” Safapour stated in a written assertion offered to MMA Junkie. “Nonetheless, we imagine there’s a better lesson right here that our neighborhood ought to pay shut consideration to. For a corporation that repeatedly claims to be ‘fighter first,’ we now actually see how PFL treats their fighters, particularly their legends.”
PFL/Bellator Official Fighter Roster Replace pic.twitter.com/8yi9TPqE3Q
— PFL (@PFLMMA) Could 23, 2024
Mousasi, 38, has not competed since Could 2023, when he misplaced to Fabian Edwards. Following the PFL-Bellator merger in late 2023, Mousasi has aired rising frustration with the promotion.
In an April interview with MMA Junkie, Mousasi claimed PFL was not providing him fights and had requested him to take a pay minimize, one thing former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima additionally not too long ago complained of publicly.
Each PFL president Ray Sefo and PFL co-owner Donn Davis disputed Mousasi’s declare. In April, Sefo informed reporters, together with MMA Junkie, the promotion provided Mousasi, via Safapour, a struggle up a weight class at 205 kilos, but it surely was turned down.
Hours after Sefo spoke, Safapour informed MMA Junkie the bout was a brief discover supply and stated a shift of weight class didn’t qualify it as “actual supply.”
It’s unclear the place Mousasi’s subsequent cease is from right here. He’s 40 years of age and on a two-fight skid. He fought within the UFC from April 2013 to April 2017 with a 9-3 document with the promotion earlier than he joined Bellator as a free agent. Mousasi went 7-3 underneath the Bellator banner with two reigns as middleweight champion.
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