Tag: Justin Willis

Former UFC heavyweight competitor Justin Willis has inked a contract with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) for its third season.

MMA Fighting confirmed the news, which was originally reported by MMA Junkie. Willis, 32, is expecting to make his PFL debut in May or June. Willis had a very controversial release from the UFC last year, as he was apparently cut after declining a fight with Walt Harris at UFC on ESPN 4.

Even after his release from the UFC, Willis found himself going back-and-forth with the likes of UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa. Willis claims he was fighting for a job that he was wrongfully let go of while guys like Tuivasa were only on the roster because of the country they’re from.

”The last time, I was trying to save a job that I knew was taken from me unjustly, especially when you have guys like Tai Tuivasa, who loses three times in a row, and he obviously can’t fight, and he’s still in the UFC for the simple fact that he’s from Australia,” Willis said.

Willis finds the PFL’s tournament style of doing things more appealing than the UFC’s way of doing things, which is more star-driven. The former UFC heavyweight adds that favoritism doesn’t get you far in a promotion like PFL either, as you have to win your way to the top. Willis is hoping that a heavyweight tournament win will take him to the next level of his fighting career.

”In the UFC, there’s a lot of picking and choosing and favoritism,” Willis said. “It’s not all about who can fight the best. It’s about who can shuck and jive the best. But this is the fight game, not the light game. Places like the PFL have it right, and god willing, me winning this will put me on a different level.”

What do you think about Willis inking a contract with the PFL?

Justin Willis and Tai Tuivasa have both addressed the UFC release of Justin Willis, and now so is a pivotal man behind the scenes of this ordeal, manager of Justin Willis, Abraham Kawa, who pulled back the curtain to what led to Willis’s release, with most of the details being related to the aftermath of […]

The post Manager Lobbies for Justin Willis’s UFC Return appeared first on MMA News.

Justin Willis looks to be done with the UFC as things currently stand. The Las Vegas-based promotion released the heavyweight last month after what Willis initially labeled a “miscommunication.”

Willis joined “The Ariel Helwani MMA Show” today (Mon. June 17, 2019) to explain his side of the situation. There have been conflicting stories as to whether or not Willis is still, in fact, a member of the UFC roster. When asked why he was cut from the UFC, Willis named three key reasons:

“What happened was, I only wanted one fight,” Willis said.” And that fight was Tai Tuivasa. That’s one reason. Two reason is, I wanted to get my weight under control. I wanted to come in a lot more fitter, a lot more quicker, a lot more everything. That’s number two.

“Number three, is, I wanted a chance to actually go through a camp with “DC” [Daniel Cormier]. He fights August 14. So, my date that they gave me, originally – hey, it’s not about the guys necessarily, it’s about more so of the dates. And the date was August, somewhere around where “DC” fights so I was actually able to go through a full camp with him as well.”

These sound like everyday issues for a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. For a promotion to release a fighter on these grounds is certainly a strange circumstance. When asked why he was released instead of trying to work something out, Willis was left just as confused as everyone else:

“We’ll be political here, I don’t know,” Willis said before laughing hysterically.

Currently, Willis is putting things in the hands of his management and the UFC. Both sides seem to be having discussions regarding the heavyweight’s status, so for now, “Big Pretty” will sit back and let things sort themselves out:

“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on right now,” Willis admitted. “That’s between them. My management, we have some stuff working out right now, and that’s between the UFC and my management, so I’m letting them take control of all that stuff.”

The post Justin Willis Explains Controversial Release From UFC appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.