Gegard Mousasi recently signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA, ending a multiple year run with the UFC.
The newest member of the Bellator MMA roster is claiming the the Reebok deal was done by the promotion to help make it more lucrative for its eventual sale.
“Let’s be honest, Reebok was (only) there to sell the company. Never was it meant to help the fighters out,” Mousasi said on The MMA Hour. “Reebok became with UFC because they wanted to sell it for $4 billion. It’s just as simple as that, to make global the sport, and just to sell it. It was terrible for fighters.”
Mousasi’s new home in Bellator MMA doesn’t have an exclusive sponsorship deal with an athletic clothing company.
It would appear that Mousasi wasn’t the only fighter who hated the Reebok deal, as he claims a lot of UFC fighters are still against it.
“No one complained about Reebok. If you complained, it’s gonna get messy, they’d fire you. People cannot talk about it, cannot say that Reebok sucks, but we all know the truth. They can’t even make good pants or shorts. I don’t know. I was not happy with the Reebok deal. 99% of the fighters are not happy with the Reebok deal. Reebok themselves are not happy. And UFC is not happy with Reebok, but it is what it is. Reebok is bad for UFC. I don’t know if the new owners realize what they’re doing,” says Mousasi.
There is no debut date set yet for Mousasi and Bellator MMA, but the fighter is just one of many big free agent signing the Viacom owned promotion has made in the last year.
