Gegard Mousasi Explains Why He Chose Bellator Over the UFC

Gegard Mousasi and his manager Nima Safapour spoke with MMAjunkie about making the jump from the UFC to Bellator. The highlights are below:

Safapour on Mousasi going with Bellator over the UFC: “Throughout the entire experience, Gegard asked me, what’s the better deal? And I told him, it’s never about what deal is better. It’s just different. What made it better was what Gegard wanted and what was best for his family. When he looked at that deal from that perspective, the Bellator deal was better. With that said, the UFC deal was competitive. And they fought for the deal up to the very end. They deserve a tremendous amount of credit for trying to make this deal, even if they came up short. The Bellator deal was the more competitive deal.”

Mousasi on his decision: “Because I know what other fighters were making. If I compare myself to Vitor Belfort, I know Vitor has been fighting for a long time. But I’m a better fighter than Vitor. I have a better record than him. I have more championships, I’m younger, and I can fight another five years, while he’s on his way out. I didn’t even want the same number as Vitor. That’s the problem. I just wanted to be a little bit closer. Maybe half of what Belfort would make. I didn’t think I was asking for too much.”

Mousasi on changes in the UFC: “The new owners (at WME-IMG), they don’t understand fighting as well. The Fertitta brothers, they made the company. Even (UFC President) Dana White, he doesn’t work with the same people. All the other guys got fired. One fight before my contract expired, I believe they would have pushed bigger negotiations, and it would have been different. But this company, they have a lot of debt. That’s not the fighters’ fault that they’re cutting staff and cutting fighters’ money. That’s not our problem.”

Mousasi on the UFC’s deal with Reebok: “They gave me $10,000 for Reebok. Ten-thousand dollars. What can I do with that? Even if I don’t make $10,000, I’m not required to do anything (with Bellator). I can do whatever I like. I’m more happy about that than the $10,000 I get – it’s a slap in the face. (Reebok is) literally stealing from the fighters.”

Safapour on fighting with outside promoters: “We’re not going to compete for UFC Fight Pass organizations. But you might very well see Gegard box in Russia. It could very well happen. Our focus for the moment is Bellator.”

Mousasi on Bellator’s drug testing: “I can say I want extra drug testing. If I feel like a guy is cheating, they can show up at his door suddenly and test him. There’s more ability to talk and have an opinion.”

On a possible fight with Rory MacDonald: “It’s not my opponent, but that’s an intriguing fight. Even Wanderlei (Silva) because of his name. Quinton Jackson. I don’t know. I can bounce around divisions. But I’m going to get the middleweight belt first, and I think Rory MacDonald is a good fight. People would love to see that. But my goal is to win the belt.”