Muhammed Lawal understands the importance of free agency.
“King Mo” has seen the number of fighters who have left the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to head over to other promotions such as Bellator. The former Strikeforce light heavyweight title holder believes the open market is beneficial for fighters because it creates other opportunities to make more money.
Fighters such as Ryan Bader, Lorenz Larkin, Kyoji Horiguchi, Phil Davis, and others have benefited from being free agents. Davis is Bellator’s 205-pound kingpin, Bader may get an immediate title shot, Larkin is getting a title bout, and Horiguchi now fights for Rizin.
Lawal was a recent guest on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour” and explained how free agency has helped fighters:
“I think it’s good, man. The more options fighters have, the more chances they have to make money. You just don’t want one option because then you get lowballed, but with more options you can shop around and try to get the best price or the best deal. But some fans don’t get that because they’re not in the fight world, they’re just fans for a reason, but we get it and I think the more competition there is, the better it is for the sport all around.”
