After being dismissed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship last May, Chute Boxe Academy middleweight fighter Maiquel ‘Big Rig’ Falcão (28-4, 1 NC) has signed with another major North American mma promotion.
During Saturday nights Bellator 54 prelim broadcast, which streamed live at Spike.com, promotion CEO Bjorn Rebney announced the signing of ‘Rig Rig’ to Bellator. No debut date or opponent was named though.
Falcão made just one appearance with the Ultimate Fighting Championship debuting against Gerald Harris at UFC 123 almost a year ago. ‘Rig Rig’ won the match by unanimous decision, extending his win streak to eight at the time.
Despite almost finishing Harris in the first except for the buzzer going off 5-6 seconds early, Falcão was heavily criticized by many, including UFC President Dana White, for coasting the rest of the fight.
Shortly afterwords, Falcão was charged with assault in his native Brazil from an incident back in 2002. He was eventually given probation and was allowed to return to the UFC.
He had been scheduled to meet Alessio Sakara at the UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann event but pulled out due to injury. Then he was to have faced Tom Lawlor at UFC 134 last August, but was suddenly released by the UFC in May from issues still stemming from the 2002 assault charge.
‘Rig Rig’ has gone on to fight three times since his UFC debut, going 2-1 with various local promotions in Brazil.