Yahoo! Sports reports that former UFC fighter Leslie Smith has signed with Bellator MMA and plans to move to Featherweight.
Smith’s last scheduled fight was to be almost a year to the day in April 2018 when she was to meet Aspen Ladd in Atlantic City. However, Ladd did not make weight and Smith did not take the fight at a catchweight. As those following know, it was to be Smith’s last fight on her contract but Zuffa decided to pay her show and win money and then call it good despite her only promotion loss to Cristiane Cyborg.
Smith and her attorney Lucas Middlebrook believe that were abrupt dismissal from the company was due to her leading Project Spearhead which sought to have a vote of UFC fighters to determine whether they were employees of the company instead of independent contractors. Smith had made a case with the NLRB and despite initial optimism which was in favor of Smith’s claims, they were denied.
She now gets a new start after what will be over a year away from fighting.
The new situation should be good for Smith and a move to the more competitive Featherweight division should yield her attractive fights. Julia Budd is the company’s featherweight champion at this time.
Payout Perspective:
MMA Payout had the opportunity to speak with Smith and Middlebrook a couple months back. Her return to fighting should help Bellator with any intent of building its women’s division. She may be a polarizing figure depending on your view of her lobbying for fighters’ rights. But through this, she has elevated her status as someone willing to speak her mind regardless of the ramifications. We shall see whether she brings her Project Spearhead lobbying to Bellator.
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