REACTION: What does Gegard Mousasi's Bellator Release Say About State of PFL Merger?

After news broke of PFL releasing Gegard Mousasi from his Bellator contract following many public complaints, MMA Junkie reporters Mike Bohn and Nolan King react to the situation.
Full story: mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/0...
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#PFL #Bellator #GegardMousasi

[@babahadjimohamed9339]

It is good to see journalists support the fighters

[@TripleKOShorts]

Mousasi should head back to the UFC and clear out the middle weight division then call it a career.

[@davidstreet2949]

Bad blood with UFC him and Cyborg that is why Bellator. Mousasi getting money from UFC lawsuit so will be okay. Cyborg will have Pacheo fight wish ufc take her back for Kayla.

[@mikemichaels2914]

@davidstreet2949 What lawsuit against UFC??? I'm sure there's none

[@Poatan.chama.]

I believe in a interview in dutch he said he is gonna retire from fighting.

[@PrimeTonysElbows]

​@@mikemichaels2914The ufc settled the anti trust lawsuit...theyre paying out a certain sum of money to a bunch of fighters. So, technically you're right... there's no more lawsuits against the UFC by any fighter atm. That I know of

[@mr.brenman2132]

​@@davidstreet2949He doesn't have bad blood with the UFC. He just took the money.

[@bluejay9235]

With all the bums they have on their roster, it's Mousasi they decide to get rid of? Smh, PFL has just made one bad business decision after another 🤦‍♂️

[@trope5105]

theyre just laundering money at this point, someone will go to jail in the next 5 or so years i bet, seems inevitable

[@mikemichaels2914]

His contract was to much $$$$$$ And he's not a big name

[@fadya.3660]

You know nothing about this as a business decision lmao Do you know anything about how many fights were left on his deal and how much he was set to get paid for them? If not, you can't even form an opinion about it as a "business decision"

[@trope5105]

@@fadya.3660 WTF are you on about lol, anyone with a brain can question; if buying bellator was a bad business decision, or hiring ufc rejects (something bellator learned years ago) is a bad business decision, or if using jake paul who the mma community, especially at the time, to try and draw in more mma viewers was a bad business decision, or if paying ngannou millions without showing interest in fighting is a bad business decision, or in this guys point, letting go one of your top 3 fighters in either promotion, was a bad business decision. anyone can question these stupid fuckin moves that pfl has made in the last year and half. PFL has to be a money laundering tool of some sort, otherwise its hard to imagine how theyre staying afloat

[@nickt1275]

@@mikemichaels2914 I would have watched PFL for the first time if Mousasi fought there. And a lot of MMA fans would feel the same way.

[@yogic_law]

PFL didn't like the MMA hour interview with Mousasi 😅

[@evanstarkman2341]

They don't like their dirty laundry aired.

[@shogunjobu]

PFL sucks

[@DarthBalsamic]

I remember being told months ago that PFL was the best thing since sliced bread. The big mouth owner was on all the networks trashing the UFC and Dana White; and many pretended that PFL was this money-making machine paying fighters these exorbitant amounts of money that many pretended they had. PFL was, and likely still, is subsidizing fighters. They don't turn a profit regardless of the merger. I've watched some of the cards since the merger, and frankly I prefer the European fight cards than the American ones as they seem to have better quality. People balked when White said that the PFL is a broke company. Especially after the Ngannou clown show. We shouldn't be surprised that the floor is falling from underneath them. I feel bad for Gegard. They did him dirty, as they are, and will, do to other fighters like him. They lured these people over to a company that had shady business practices with money that they did not have. Say what you want about the UFC, but they're not doing that to fighters.

[@1994mrmysteryman]

Well said. Dana has issues... but he is far better than this.

[@LarryMayvid]

100%. If you're not already familiar with it, you should look up the lawsuit this guy Manoel Sousa brought against them earlier this year. It's over their contracts and it exposed a ton of details about them. The UFC's are amazing compared to theirs (and ONE's). I was dying laughing when all but one of their fighters lost when they did the PFL vs Belator thing, and the only one who did win was twice the size of Bader. Then Francis just walked out without doing a face-off, lmao. I'm pretty confident they either don't actually want Francis to fight so that they don't have to pay done rando all that money, or Don Davis has learned the hard way why Dana and the UFC gave up on him and talked about how difficult he was to work with and what a diva he is. Davis is saying Francis's next fight will be in mma while Francis is still talking about boxing again next

[@fadya.3660]

They didn't do anything Bellator wouldnt have done anyways. Bellator was broke and wouldnt have paid Gegard either, there's a reason the merger happened in the first place. Reality is he's 38, coming off of 2 losses, and PFL didn't agree with the contract Bellator gave him. Part of the nature of M&As. Some people won't fit in.

[@robertm9490]

Man that sucks! I hope he can find something. Damn what a way to get dropped.

[@jsbpwr]

Mousasi vs. Weidmen 2

[@eveningshownamibia]

Top 10 all time MMA fighter. He should've kept him in the UFC!

[@shogunjobu]

100%

[@fadya.3660]

@@shogunjobu Thats an insane exaggeration lmao all time? He's not better than Jon Jones, GSP, Mighty Mouse, Khabib, Silva, Aldo, Volk, Cejudo, Fedor, or DC. That's already 10. Haven't even mentioned Miocic, Adesanya, Lidell, Cain, Alex Pereira, Whitaker, Islam, Hughes, Cruz, Couture, Usman, McGregor, Hollaway etc. Top 10 is just laughably wrong. Even if you somehow wanted to claim he's better than 10 of these guys he still wouldnt crack top 10. He's probably not even top 30.

[@thegator7018]

These dorks forget ONE FC is an organization and still a superior product to the PFL.

[@MMAJunkieOfficial]

ONE FC has had 13 MMA fights on its past 10 fight cards. You can barely call them an MMA organization at this point, and there's plenty of fighters complaining about their situation there. - MB

[@FOERTYFIVERS45]

Def not... but i love ONE

[@jaggy-adidas]

I m really sad that one of the best fighter I see without him I was not interest to Bellator or pfl but not nice to treat fighter like that

[@2piecenobisuit763]

PFL with the nasty work on moose

[@haldir3120]

Freedom for Mousasi

[@nickt1275]

Disgraceful how PFL are treating a legendary fighter like Mousasi and Lima and Cyborg as well. They deserve a better career ending., and putting them in fights would actually attract viewers because they are fan-friendly, well-loved fighters even if moving past their prime. PFL are choosing to pay Ngannou millions instead to not even fight for them.

[@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan]

Cool 😎 story. Pls, book Mousasi vs Izzy for 185 belt. Khamzat can wait.

[@chad_b]

Lol what about the current middleweight champ?

[@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan]

@@chad_b DDP? 😆 Izzy will school him for boring 5 rounds.

[@chad_b]

@@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan that would still have to happen before they could do adesanya vs mousassi

[@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan]

@chad_b just book Adesanya vs Mousasi for the interim belt and pretend DDP is hurt or put Khamzat-Whittaker winner in the mix.

[@EveryKneeWillBow24]

Was really hoping for Mousasi vs Yoel! I'm sure Rizin could get him some fights but Id love to see him back in the UFC to fight guys like Vetorri, Costa, & Cannonier. Maybe a 205 fight vs Smith or Blachowicz.

[@thedarkestsummer]

I’m sure we will see him in karate combat

[@bladesofmen]

Jiri vs Mousasi

[@iiRolltide]

I guess if your industry it’s better that there are different organizations but as a consumer I only want one. All I want is to see the best fight the best. I think we can all agree streaming was much better when Netflix was the only option and everything you wanted to watch was in one place. We need that for mma

[@MichaelSpikes-pv6kl]

What is going on here

[@LarryMayvid]

You all should look into the lawsuit Manoel Sousa brought against the PFL. Completely exposed how horrible their contracts are. PFL and ONE are so, so much worse than the UFC. And Don Davis was on Ariel's show like less than a week after that suit came out, iirc, talking about how they'd never lost a fighter before Kayla. Clearly implying that that was because they treat them so good they don't want to leave. Nah, they just make it insanely difficult to do. And, of course, Ariel didn't say a word about it

[@nqi87]

Donn Davis is Justin Hammer to Dana White's Tony Stark

[@XX-kf8er]

Canadian why ya havent interview Strickland?

[@burtbun3689]

PFL (Season format - great idea - terrible reality) buys Bellator. Bellator's roster was always deeper than PFL's. Better organization, period. But, hey, good for the sport, right? WRONG. Why acquire Bellator if you're not going to use their biggest names and best fighters on the roster? Or you can't afford to make the most of your acquisition? That's a great business model to compete with the juggernaut that is the UFC. NOT.

[@xCallxMExJJx]

Ikr, don't know why they bought bellator if they were so poor

[@beefsteak5380]

Man, a shame. He will have something to prove after this, wouldn’t want to be his next opponent.

[@theviolentone]

he can sign with one fc or eagle fc

[@pedrowoolson4273]

It's the fight game, son, you'll get cut some day... there's a reason that Uncle Dana loves a "company man", it's a business and selling fights ain't easy. I feel for Mousasi coming off two losses, but the fight game is and always will be cruel and merciless. It's the rare old fighter who goes out draped in glory and that will never change

[@georgeg6372]

mousasi,lima and cris should have been released by bellator b4 merging

[@fadya.3660]

One of the most liked comments is "Top 10 all time MMA fighter" lmao people just like anything without thinking

[@nickt1275]

Mousasi has a great record, it's slightly worsened in recent years, because he's been getting older. He is still 49-9 and that is across multiple divisions and in high-level promotions throughout the vast majority of his career. There is an argument for him being top 10 all time, because very few fighters have a record that deep.

[@fadya.3660]

@@nickt1275 Jon Jones, GSP, Mighty Mouse, Khabib, Silva, Aldo, Volk, Cejudo, Fedor, or DC. That's already 10. Haven't even mentioned Miocic, Adesanya, Lidell, Cain, Alex Pereira, Whitaker, Islam, Hughes, Cruz, Couture, Usman, McGregor, Hollaway etc. Top 10 is just laughably wrong. Even if you somehow wanted to claim he's better than 10 of these guys he still wouldnt crack top 10.

[@fadya.3660]

@@nickt1275 a record of 49-9 isn’t a reason to elevate someone that high in MMA. The level of his competition and wins are respectable but it’s just not comparable to what top 10 guys have achieved.

[@nickt1275]

@@fadya.3660 Fedor's record is similar, 40-7, he fought in various promotions, etc.. Yet, you put him straight in your first ten ...?

[@fadya.3660]

@@nickt1275 because I’m not looking at just record. I don’t even personally think Fedor is a top 10 lock. I was just naming people off the top of my head who would clearly be ranked ahead of Mousasi. Even if you think 2-3 that I named didn’t belong ahead of him it still doesn’t even get close to top 10.

[@syntholshoulders1842]

PFL DOESNT DESERVE THIS UNBELIEVABLE WE KNOW AHATS REALLY FOJNF ON

[@shannonhargis3445]

Why would one failing business buy the other sinking ship whole thing is mind boggling. Pfl will die slowly or rather fast but surly imo

[@xCallxMExJJx]

Disgusting business they have going on over there in the pfl. I'd never fight for them folks. Dudes been out of jobs for over a year😮 fck that they should've never bought bellator since they so poor

[@chad_b]

I wonder where Gayguard will go next

[@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan]

Back to where he should be...de OOeeffsee

[@pabloluiten2537]

Say it to his face and we will see what will happen 😉

[@Toddpicogram-aka-Satan]

@@pabloluiten2537 Gay Guard Moose Sus Yan

[@KZ_MMA_]

Mousasi isn't worth millions of dollars

[@georgeg6372]

Mousasi is an idiot - if offered get rid of PFL for your fellow fighters or leave . his team would make him choose ending PFL for a onetime pay day.

[@XX-kf8er]

Pfllator sucks