After Fabricio Werdum submitted Alexander Gustafsson on Fight Island to become a free agent, many figured he would be signing with Bellator. Yet, that was not the case as he ended up signing with PFL.
When Werdum was a free agent both he and Fedor Emelianenko were talking about making the rematch happen. But, the Brazilian could not come to an agreement with Bellator which is due to the fact that Scott Coker only wanted to give him a one-fight deal.
“His goals and his desires were different than our goals and our desires,” Coker told MMA Junkie after the Bellator 253 ceremonial weigh-ins at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. “I’m happy for him. If we wanted him to be here and have a fight with Fedor, we could do that. But that’s really probably the only fight that we’d be interested in. I think he was looking at a longer-term deal – multi-year, multi-fight.”
As Coker mentions, the only fight fans wanted to see was the Fedor Emelianenko rematch. Besides that, the boss believes the interest level wouldn’t be there. So, it didn’t make sense to sign the former UFC heavyweight champion to a multi-fight deal.
With Werdum signing with PFL, the chances of the rematch with Emelianenko happening appear unlikely to ever happen now.
