Lorenz Larkin isn’t appreciative of fans who detest his decision to leave the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
When Larkin decided to fight out his UFC contract, he was taking a significant risk. Had “The Monsoon” been on the losing end of his final bout with the UFC, his stock would’ve taken a hit. Instead, Larkin secured victories over Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny in his final bouts inside the Octagon.
The move paid off for Larkin, who recently signed with Bellator and will receive a title opportunity inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. Despite the success, “The Monsoon” told MMAFighting.com that some UFC loyalists take exception to the move:
“I guess the only thing that I’ve kinda been disappointed with in this whole experience, some — I’m not going to say all of them, because there’s a lot of people who support my decision — but I feel like a lot of the MMA fans are really disappointing in this thing, that they’re just big UFC people. And I always took pride in saying that MMA fans are really knowledgeable about this sport. They’re really knowledgeable about what’s going on in this sport, more than I feel like (fans are) with boxing and things like that. I just get this whole, like, ‘why would you go to Bellator?’ And, ‘you’re over, it’s just a B-league,’ and all this other type of sh*t. And I’m just like, this is good for the sport, man. There can’t be one (option for fighters). I’m not saying it just because I left. I’ve watched Bellator before, even when I was in the UFC. I’ve watched all these other leagues when I was in the UFC, so it’s not like now I’ve left them and now I’m just like this. I’ve felt like this the whole time. It can’t be like that, especially being a fighter.”
