Rory McDonald gets picked up by Bellator

[Eff Pandas]

Bellator is putting in work with picking up some good UFC names in free agency as of late. Rampage. BenHen. Mitrione. Now Rory. Who's next?

I know he's got a 2 fight losing streak, but its to former champion Robbie Lawler (in a FOTY caliber fight) & likely future champ Wonder Boy & he's for sure still a top 10 WW & arguably a top 5 WW in the world right now. And he's got W's over current champion Tyron Woodley & one of the biggest names in the UFC right now Nate Diaz.

Viacom is putting some muscle behind Bellator since Scott Coker got put into place as the President.

[Anthony342]

Man, that Reebok deal is really screwing them now. How many years are left on it? 3? 5?

[Willy Wanker]

Rory McDonald is still young, I'm sure he'll be back in the UFC someday. He's more than likely going to get paid more with Bellator and he could get a title shot there sooner rather than later.

[Ruthless One]

No idea why UFC would let him go. Rory's still one of the best fighters in his division. He'll do well in Bellator and hopefully he'll come back to the UFC in the near future.

[Eff Pandas]

Man, that Reebok deal is really screwing them now. How many years are left on it? 3? 5?

2020 I believe. I'll never understand how the UFC misplayed things on this deal so bad or if they just thought none of these $100k per fight sponsored guys would give a ****.

[Anthony342]

So the fighters get 100k per fight from Reebok or the owners?

[Eff Pandas]

So the fighters get 100k per fight from Reebok or the owners?

Nah some fighters WERE getting $100k via sponsors. Now they max out you with Reebok at $40k for the champ all the way down to $2.5k for UFC noobs. I'm guessing some guys are probably better off with the Reebok deal if they weren't sponsorship friendly or just not good at getting sponsors, but combined, due to the guys who were getting 6 digits per fight before, fighters probably have lost tens of millions of dollars due to this deal.

[Eastcoast]

It's the right move for both McDonald and the UFC. I feel the Lawler fight may have had a lasting physical impact on Rory, and then losing to Thompson really left him with no where to go. Now he can go to the B-leagues in Bellator and re-establish himself (maybe, if he is shot from the Lawler fight, he'll take bad losses there too so atleast he's getting good money for retirment).

[TheCell8]

Rory vs. MVP is the fight to make.

[Anthony342]

Nah some fighters WERE getting $100k via sponsors. Now they max out you with Reebok at $40k for the champ all the way down to $2.5k for UFC noobs. I'm guessing some guys are probably better off with the Reebok deal if they weren't sponsorship friendly or just not good at getting sponsors, but combined, due to the guys who were getting 6 digits per fight before, fighters probably have lost tens of millions of dollars due to this deal.

That's really stupid. They're going to lose a lot of fighters to Bellator until 2020 then.