Curtis Blaydes May Entertain Offers From Bellator MMA When UFC Deal Expires
Curtis Blaydes picked up a unanimous decision win over top five ranked heavyweight Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 221.
The heavyweight has one more fight left on his current UFC deal and the fighter could envision negotiating with Bellator MMA when the time comes.
“If the UFC allows me to get to that fourth fight without a decent offer … I’ll listen to Bellator,” he said to MMA Junkie.
Blaydes has a 4-1-0-1NC record thus far under the UFC banner, with those victories coming over Cody East, Daniel Omielanczuk, Mark Hunt and Alexey Oleynik.
One reason that Blaydes may consider a jump to the Paramount owned Bellator MMA is that the promotion is offering fighters some hefty contracts.
“They’ve been offering guys fat, fat contracts, and those heavyweights aren’t nearly as good as the ones in the UFC,” he said. “So the enticement is there – lesser competition for more money.”
Bellator MMA has made some big free agent signings in the last year-plus, including Roy Nelson, Rory MacDonald, Ben Henderson, Frank Mir, Ryan Bader, Fedor Emelianenko, Michael McDonald, Valerie Letourneau and a plethora of others.
