Minakov Looking To Get Into UFC; If He Can Get Bellator Out Of The Way

There was a point in time that Vitaly Minakov was the Bellator MMA Heavyweight Champion and was dominating everybody in front of him. But since the Scott Coker era took shape, Minakov hasn’t appeared in Bellator. 

Minakov was stripped of the heavyweight championship earlier this year by Bellator MMA after a recent lack of defenses, which according to Minakov, was not the want to defend the championship, but the lack of credible contenders.

Minakov has since been under the impression that his contract with the Viacom owned promotion has concluded and he is free to go wherever he wants, mainly the UFC. But as he revealed to Izvestia.ru, Bellator has been causing some problems.

“I had signed a contract with [Bellator], not on the number of matches, but for a certain period of three years,” said Minakov. “The three years have elapsed but the conditions if you are the champions of the organization, and I was to them, is that they have the right to extend twice or three times more for six months. And they did. My agreement with Bellator will expire in a few months. But now there is strange behavior on their part. They insist that I have to perform a few more fights under their banner, although the contract does not have a word about the number of fights. Now this issue is being studied by my lawyer.”

Minakov did not mince any words on saying where he will sign once he becomes a free agent and is free from Belllator MMA.

“I will say this: as soon as my contract expires with Bellator, I’ll be “free agent” for no more than day. In the near future I will sign a new contract with one of the world’s major promotions” said Minakov.

Bellator currently has no heavyweight champion, nor any fights to determine the champion set.