No longer a free agent, Lorenz Larkin signs with Bellator MMA
No longer a free agent, Lorenz Larkin signs with Bellator MMA
Not many fighters are released from UFC contract after a win, but that is exactly what happened to top welterweight, Lorenz Larkin.
After back-to-back wins over Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny, the UFC chose not to provide Larkin with a new contract, thus the fighter went into free agency.
Now, according to a report from The Press Enterprise, “Bellator officials said Larkin, a former competitor with rival promotion The Ultimate Fighting Championship, is likely to make his Bellator debut before the end of the year.”
“They can expect me to get in there and fight my ass off like I always do,” Larkin said. “I feel like I’m in a great time in my life. I have an organization and a city behind me and what else do I need?”
Larkin confirmed reports that he had been pursued by several of the world’s top MMA promotions, including the UFC, Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator, with Russian-based Absolute Championship Berkut joining the fray of suitors in recent weeks.
“It’s been a long process, I didn’t expect it to be that long,” said Larkin (18-5), who hasn’t fought since defeating Neil Magny in the final fight of his UFC contract on Aug. 26. “I wanted someone to get behind me and have some faith that I can deliver and I can be an asset to wherever I go and that’s what I felt like with Bellator. They pretty much checked off all the things that I was looking for.”
“I didn’t fight in the UFC just to be able to say I’m a UFC fighter; that doesn’t mean anything to me,” Larkin said. “I think a lot of guys think that way in the sport, as far in that organization or if they’re not even picked up yet, and that’s their goal — just to say ‘I’m a UFC fighter.’ But in reality that doesn’t mean anything if you’re not getting taken care of.
“It used to be back in the day that the UFC was a super power, but a lot of organizations are coming up and it’s not like that any more.”
