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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"I have nothing but gratitude for those guys. I would have liked to sign the big contract and stay with the UFC, sure. That was my first option. But as more options became available, I went with other options. It's hard to look at it emotionally. I'm entirely looking at it as a business move... It's like anything. Fighting is a job for me. I love it, but at the same time it pays the bills...
Moving to Bellator is not an opportunity where you say I'm disappointed in anything. If I was working for FedEx and UPS offered me a better job, then you go to UPS. The only thing that brings up hurt feelings is I have a lot of friends and family that work for the UFC, the people of the organization that I won't be able to see on a regular basis. That's simply it. There's no hurt feelings any other way. That's one of the things that happen in life, ya know? ...
I would never want anyone in any job to feel confined to only working that job. If you're in sports, especially in the fight game, definitely go after the best offer. Shoot for the stars. As fighters, you definitely want to, especially if you perform well, you want to get compensated well. At the end of your career, you don't want to say, 'I should have done this, I should have done that.'"
Penick's Analysis: Davis made the right move for himself in going to Bellator. Now, that's also because he potentially made the wrong move by not renegotiating his UFC deal prior to the Ryan Bader fight. Regardless, he accepted what he deemed to be an appropriate offer from Bellator, and he'll have a chance to be the best fighter on their roster moving forward. There's no faulting Davis for making the move he's made, and him not being in the UFC from now on is clearly a case of the UFC not wanting to retain him for what he felt he was worth.
[Phil Davis art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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