SANTA MONICA, Calif. — On Tuesday, published reports claimed veteran heavyweight Cheick Kongo signed with Bellator.
One day later, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said that the French fighter has not inked a deal with the company. But he dropped plenty of hints that Bellator has interest in the Wolfslair MMA fighter.
Speaking at Wednesday’s press conference for another Wolfslair-affliliated fighter, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Rebney said that Kongo has not yet signed.
“He has not [signed],” said Rebney. “Great fighter, fun personality, very good fighter to watch, I’ve been watching him fight for years, but he has not signed with Bellator.”
But Rebney then went ahead and added that in developing a relationship with Jackson, Bellator also established contact with the rest of the British camp.
While not mentioning Kongo again by name, Rebney said to expect more Wolfslair fighters to join the Bellator fold.
“Part of the magic of this relationship is I got to spend literally months working with the team at Wolfslair,” Rebney said. “They’ve got a terrific stable of talent. You’re going to see some announcements coming out literally in the next couple weeks about more Wolfslair talent that’s going to be coming in with Bellator.”
The 38-year-old Kongo is 18-8-2 in his MMA career. He was released from the UFC last month after a seven-year stint in which he went 11-6-1 in the company, with his last fight a knockout loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 159.