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Andreas Hale, ESPN
The PFL has released former Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi just one day after the fighter criticized the promotion as “the worst organization” in an interview.
“Bellator has released Gegard Mousasi from his agreement,” PFL head of fighter operations Mike Kogan said in a statement posted to social media on Thursday. “We wish him all the best fighting in his next chapter.”
On Wednesday, Mousasi appeared on Ariel Helwani’s “The MMA Hour” and expressed his disappointment with the PFL’s handling of him.
“They said that the amount [of money I get paid], we don’t want to cut you. It’s so much that it’s better for you, I don’t know, [to] look somewhere else or do something else,” Mousasi told “The MMA Hour” about his status in the company.
“At this moment, I’m like, ‘Listen, if someone doesn’t want me, I’m like, f— it, Let’s go.’ But my team around me is like, ‘F— it, we’ll sue them.’ If it was up to me, I would just go, but I don’t know. We’ll see. The team around me is not that happy. So I think there is going to be legal action against them.”
Mousasi, 38, hasn’t fought since May 2023, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Fabian Edwards in a Bellator middleweight title eliminator. It was his second consecutive loss after losing the title to Johnny Eblen in June 2022.
Since his loss to Edwards, PFL acquired Bellator in a landmark deal at the end of 2023. Although the deal made waves in the industry, fighters in both promotions expressed concerns with how they would be handled because of the merging of the rosters.
Mousasi said he signed a new contract with Bellator before the PFL acquired the promotion, but he said PFL officials told him they weren’t aware of his new deal. Mousasi scoffed at that and chalked it up to the promotion being unwilling to honor the contract, which he states was worth “a couple million.”
“I don’t know why you even took Bellator if you don’t have the money to let the fighters fight,” Mousasi told “The MMA Hour.”
“[I feel disrespected] because they don’t even want to pick up the phone and talk to us. It’s not even funny anymore. It’s the worst organization so far. I’ve fought in a lot of organizations; this is the worst one.”