Gegard Mousasi is apparently very happy with his move to Bellator.
Gegard Mousasi was a high-level middleweight in the UFC, but was never able to secure a title shot there. After getting tired of it, he decided to move on to greener pastures – Bellator MMA. In just two fights in the organization, he is their middleweight champion and will facing off with Rory MacDonald in one of the bigger fights of 2018 at the end of this month.
On a conference call to hype Bellator 206, Mousasi was asked a few questions about his former employer and how it compares to the treatment he has received from Bellator. And Mousasi being Mousasi, he was very blunt in his assessment (transcribed by MMA Fighting):
“I feel the UFC is declining because they’re putting on bad cards, the main events are not that intriguing,” Mousasi said. “We have a lot of big names fighting now in Bellator. You have Quinton (Jackson) vs. Wanderlei (Silva), that’s a superfight on its own, obviously (Lyoto) Machida is now here. Ryan Bader. You have Matt Mitrione, you have so many big names.
“I think because of my long career, I’m now where I should be and I’m taking every chance I get to fight for the big fights.”
Mousasi (44-6-2, 2-0 Bellator) defeated Rafael Carvalho via first-round TKO to win the 185-pound title, and will make his first defense against the Bellator welterweight champion. And he’s not interested in talking about might-have-beens. He was asked about how he thinks he would fare against UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, but that wasn’t on his mind:
“I’m not chasing that title,” Mousasi said. “I really don’t care about that. All I care is on the 29th I have to be the best middleweight, and then 30th of September somebody else can be the best middleweight. For me, the goal is to be the best on the 29th. It’s all about matchups.
“If I would fight Whittaker, I think the guy who has the good standup skills can defeat him, so I don’t care about being the best or not. On the 29th, I need to be the best.”
Bellator 206 goes down September 29th in San Jose. The event will be the first Bellator show that airs on DAZN.