What’s worse than the company you work for going under? Not getting a heads up about the news. That’s what happened to current (or now former) Bellator light heavyweight champion, Corey Anderson, and featherweight king, Patricio Pitbull, who were blindsided by the recent bombshell report that revealed Professional Fighters League’s (PFL) plans to take the promotion out to pasture in 2025 after acquiring it in late 2023.
Imagine being the champion of an organization chilling on the couch and your wife walks in and tells you “did you see this? Bellator is dead now?”… and all you can do is shrug your shoulders in confusion…. CUZ you still haven’t heard a thing. Lol
Yeaaaah, that was me.— Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson (@CoreyA_MMA) January 13, 2025
“Imagine being the champion of an organization chilling on the couch and your wife walks in and tells you “did you see this? Bellator is dead now?”… and all you can do is shrug your shoulders in confusion, because you still haven’t heard a thing. Lol Yeaaaah, that was me,” wrote Anderson on X.
It’s been a rocky year and a half for all Bellator fighters, to say the least.
Lack of communication between the PFL higher ups and Bellator champions has been a topic of discussion over the last year, and it seems it’s an issue that never quite got remedied. The good news, at least for certain fighters, is that PFL plans to absorb some of the talent to build up its roster, and one can only imagine that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that all champions, Anderson and Pitbull included, would be the first to sign new contracts…assuming they don’t get released altogether.
The lack of communication is one of the big issues Pitbull had with the promotion in his lengthy rant following the news of the closure.
“The self-called co-leader in MMA is ghosting some fighters/managers and leaving them with no answers while the owner makes silly and disrespectful posts on social media,” he wrote on X.
That isn’t the only change PFL made this year, as it was also recently revealed that the $1 million jackpot at the end of the season will be knocked down to $500,000. That format was one of the big reasons several free agents jumped at the chance to sign with PFL, so there is no telling how much this move will affect future signings for the promotion.
That didn’t sit well with Pitbull, either.
“The self-called fighters first organization is also changing its contracts so it’s almost impossible for fighters to be free agents and to leave on free agency. Also tying down fighters payments for many years and taking away all their leverage. Self called co-leader in MMA and fighters first organization is cutting a bunch of fighters and forcing others to take pay cuts of up to 70%. No respect for fighter contracts and what they’ve accomplished,” he added.
“When fighters were treated with respect, contracts were fair and the production had a big step up in quality, to Viacom burying it in channels nobody watched and forcing decisions the administration wasn’t in favor of, and dying in PFL’s hands once again low-balling fighters promising to lock them up forever, to ‘exercise every legal right they have’ so fighters take as long as possible to become free agents but don’t have a chance to sign for the competition. PFL has retained some of the people that made Bellator work but zero of their values.”
RIP @BellatorMMA. It’s sad it’s come to an end and the org had such a painful death. Sabotaged by Viacom execs in its last years then sold to uncaring people that did their best to ruin it. pic.twitter.com/Zr2XfBSmaA
— Patricio Pitbull (@PatricioPitbull) January 14, 2025
Anderson was in line to take on Vadim Nemkov in a trilogy fight at the upcoming “Road to Dubai” event on Jan. 25, 2025, but that fight went up in smoke, further adding to the champion’s frustrations. As for Pitbull, he was in talks to face Aaron Pico, but that fight fell through, as well. Earlier today, however, Bellator finally granted Pitbull’s request and released him form his contract.
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