Bellator
Former Bellator matchmaker on almost signing current UFC Champ Chris Weidman in 2010: "I thought we had that deal done"
Sep 10, 2014 - 9:30:50 PM Former Bellator matchmaker on almost signing current UFC Champ Chris Weidman in 2010: "I thought we had that deal done"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Chris Weidman. I thought we had that deal done. I put a lot of time into that, and we had Chris come out to the Huerta-Alvarez show [Bellator 33] as our guest and we got him a hotel room. It was a big recruiting visit. We took him backstage, spoke with Bjorn and shook his hand. Chris was really excited walking out of that meeting about fighting for us. I was told by his managers that the deal was done.

I think Chris took the contract to a lawyer who was also a relative, and I think the relative had some questions about the nature of the contract. I think Chris felt like we had misled him. I read an interview where we had said that. It took me by surprise, but I think what had happened was, the guy that was working with him was trying to get other fighters into Bellator and had spoken to Bjorn about possibly working for the company. I think he felt like whether or not he was going to be able to do business with us outside of Chris Weidman, he felt like that was going to be dependent on if he could get Chris to sign with us. I think he might've misled Chris on a few things to get Chris to sign a 36-page document. I can tell you from my end, I don’t know anything that Bellator did to mislead him. I wonder where the disconnect was.

I thought that was a done deal. Bjorn was like, 'How good do you think he can be?' And I say, 'If we sign him, he's going to be our middleweight champion.' When Chris won the title from Anderson Silva, I was like, 'Well, I was wrong. He's not our champion, he's the UFC middleweight champion.'"

-Now former Bellator matchmaker Sam Caplan talked to Sherdog.com about how they almost signed now UFC Champion Chris Weidman in 2010.

Penick's Analysis: Weidman's uncle did right by him when he told him not to sign that deal in 2010, because he would have wound up stuck in the same position that Eddie Alvarez and other top end Bellator Champs had been in, where it may have been very difficult to get out of the organization and into the UFC. Ultimately, things worked out the way they should have worked out, because if you think Weidman would have wound up in the spot he's in now out of Bellator, that's not the least bit possible. He needed the opportunities he got in the UFC to get his true recognition, and had he got caught in Bellator, it would have ended his run well before the spot he's in now.