Phil Davis' Bellator deal? 'It’s simple: We, as fighters, fight people for money'

It’s a big moment in MMA whenever a top-10 fighter changes promotions, but it’s rare in this era that a ranked fighter jumps from the UFC to a smaller promotion as Phil Davis did on Wednesday.

Davis (13-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), currently ranked No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light-heavyweight rankings, signed a deal with Bellator MMA, had established himself as a force in the UFC, where he’d compiled one of the best light heavyweight records in recent memory, going 9-3 over his five-year octagon career. Included in that record are victories over Lyoto Machida, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Glover Teixeira and Alexander Gustafsson

In his most recent fight, Davis lost a controversial split decision to Ryan Bader. The decision left the judges, fans and media split and signaled the start of a 60-day restricted free agency period for Davis. During that period, only the UFC could negotiate with Davis.

Davis today told MMAjunkie Radio the UFC did make an offer during that period. The former NCAA Division I champion and four-time All-American wrestler decided he wanted to see what offers he got on the open market and waited out the restricted period rather than sign the initial offer to remain with the world’s top MMA promotion.

“Sixty days from that fight, I became an unrestricted free agent,” Davis said. “Then any organization could make me an offer. Obviously I’m just sitting around training and staying in the office and staying busy, and the whole time, I’m like, ‘Man, this could really go well.'”

Offers came from “all the (organizations) you would expect” according to Davis, but Bellator’s was most tempting. With an offer in hand, he went to UFC officials to allow them the opportunity to match the terms of the deal.

“I had to offer the chance to go back to the UFC and have them match the offer, and they declined,” Davis said. “There was another offer on the table, and they declined to match.”

While Davis is excited about the opportunities that come with entering a new promotion, he isn’t shy about the motivations behind signing with Bellator. In a sport with such a small window of opportunity to fight at a high level and so few chances to negotiate on the open market, Davis was looking to get paid.

“It’s simple,” Davis said. “We, as fighters, fight people for money. There’s no real secret there, guys. We fight people for money.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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