Bibiano Fernandes is sticking with ONE Championship.
Fernandes is considered to be one of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) bantamweights outside the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Recently, Fernandes had a chance to test the free agency market. “The Flash” chose to re-sign with ONE Championship.
MMAFighting.com reached out to Fernandes to see what made him decide to stick with the promotion. The ONE bantamweight champion said it made sense for his longevity:
“I’m in this fighting business for a long time, and I will stop fighting soon. That’s the truth. If I stop fighting, I have to think about my future and my kids’ future. Thinking long term, it was the best decision I made. And ONE still has a lot of challenges for me as well.”
Fernandes revealed which other promotions reached out to him. Among them were the folks at Bellator. Fernandes said that ONE Championship’s offer couldn’t be matched:
“After I stop fighting, I’ll be an ambassador for ONE Championship and I’ll be able to help a lot of talented people. People fight their entire lives and when it’s over he has nothing? I’ll continue in the sport, training, helping other people, and that made the difference for me. I believe it was the best decision. M-1 and Rizin reached out to me, but the one that tried hard to sign me was Bellator. They tried really hard. But I’m a professional fighter and have to think long-term, and long-term the best option was from ONE. Bellator came close, they made a great offer, but ONE made a better one and I decided to stay.”
