That fact juxtaposed with claims that Dana doesn’t pay attention to Bellator. Wouldn’t Dana tell his people to do the same if it was garbage competition? You know, the ones who told him that the UFC should sign Crosbie. And, oh, wait, wait, wait, it also must be juxtaposed with the claim that Bellator is just composed of old UFC castoffs.
I see they’re also about to sign Michael Page and give him a top 10 UFC opponent. Kinda like they did with Michael Chandler. Huh.
UFC has signed a pair of welterweights who will debut against each other at the upcoming pay-per-view event in Sydney.
Thursday, Bellator veteran Keifer Crosbie announced on Instagram he signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC. Crosbie (10-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his debut on short notice at UFC 293. The pay-per-view event headlined by Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland for the middleweight title takes place Sept. 9 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
Sharing the cage with Crosbie will be fellow UFC newcomer Kevin Jousset (8-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), whose signing with the promotion was also recently announced. Two people with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup with MMA Junkie.
Crosbie, 33, fought on seven occasions under the Bellator banner, putting together a record of 4-3. The Irishman is currently on a two-fight first-round finishing streak, picking up victories under Centurion Fight Championship and Rise FC.
Jousset, 30, will enter the UFC on a three-fight winning streak. In his two previous outings, the French fighter captured the HEX Fight Series middleweight and welterweight titles to become the promotion’s first two-division champion.
With the addition, the current UFC 293 lineup includes:
How does someone like that just get signed but some of the actual best prospects have to go through the Contender Series? No rhyme or reason to this stuff apparently lol.
One has been signed because he has close links to McGregor that they can milk in promotions. The other has been signed because he’s Australian, fights out of Izzy and Volk’s gym, has his only clear-cut loss to Jack Della Maddalena, and is local to the Australian event.
If Crosbie wins, they build him as Irish stock and put him on a Garry/McGregor card. If Kevin wins a few, they build him vs JDM again, put him on Volk cards, etc.
Not hard to figure out why they fast track certain people.
You seem upset
They where offering Eduard Vartanyan $12k/12k a fighter whos 25-4
UFC is only interested in filler fighters who cost $12k/$12k
Do you guys really give a fuck about the nuance on which fighters they do and do not sign to entry level spots?
Fighters that nobody outside of maybe 6 people on this site have ever heard of, by the way.
These are 30+, less than 15 fights and multiple losses each, barely prelim tier fighters. They’re not being signed to be built. No one in Ireland or Australia is going to give a crap about guys of this level either. They’re just random signings, warm bodies.
Actually the Kiefer one seems to have some level of fame, which would explain his signing. It says he’s an internet personality on google.
Yeah what the fuck. Seems like the Contender Series guys are the ones who should be getting signed automatically and the guys that UFC signs regularly should be the DWCS guys. WAT
No because there is no reason to care at this point. Too many fighters, too many fights. They will catch my eye when they do something special.
Yes, It used to be a big deal to get signed to the ufc, because it was a place for the best of the best. Now because they need to fill a bunch of cards for ESPN they fuckin get in regional level dudes who are mediocre, watering down the product
One of mcgregors boys aint he crosby
That’s a pretty shitty card for a numbered event.
Probably a big differebtbin how long of a rope each gets, though. Guys who get brought in to boost another prospect don’t get much leeway. A guy viewed as have real potential can hang around even after a couple “good” losses.
But they often put two guys with great records who both deserve to be in the UFC against each other on the Contender Series and sometimes not even sign the winner.
Kiefer is basically an exciting journeyman with a strong social media following.
He also just fought an influencer in a boxing match and the ko went somewhat viral.
He could definitely get a few wins in the UFC but is ultimately a mid level guy at best.
He goes out on his shield and even his bellator wins could have gone either way.
In he defence though he did just get a KO win over Cowboy Oliveara.