MMA Fighting reports that that Phil Davis has signed with Bellator MMA. Davis last UFC fight in January was his last on his contract with the UFC.
Davis is ranked No. 7 in the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings.
One might assume that the UFC has a “right to match” but either the contract term was not in Davis’ contract or the UFC indicated that it would not match Bellator’s contract to Davis.
Bellator made it official with an announcement on its web site.
Payout Perspective:
Davis’ signing is a good move by Bellator as it complements an entertaining Light Heavyweight division (which may or may not include Rampage Jackson). Davis brings name recognition for the organization and will likely be featured on one of Bellator’s “tent pole” events. One might wonder about why the UFC was willing to let Davis go without making a run at retaining him. There was criticism of Davis’ style, but to let a top 10 Light Heavyweight go is an indication that either the UFC was not enamored with Davis or thought that he was not worth the further investment.
Davis will definitely bring legitimacy into Bellator’s LHW division, but 9 out of his 13 fights in the UFC were borefest decisions, so they probably see him as ‘not a needle mover, people take bathroom breaks when he is fighting’ type of fighter.
There is no doubt- even w/ Fight Pass and FS1 level shows in relationship to PPV and the “old” model UFC —“The Show” is not interested in having a specific style of fighter. The UFC defines what they view a $$ fighter. The whole CM Punk thing will be interesting to see what “style” of a fighter he is? Obviously Duke Roufus will not train a ground specialist, but Ben Askren trains w/ Roufus too. Fight Pass and FSports shows confuse me. Look at the May card in Adelaide, Australia—–I wont watch except for Mark Hunt fight.