Fighters moving between promotions creates better paychecks, and some interesting matchups. Gegard Mousasi is looking at fights in both middleweight and light heavyweight in Bellator. And welterweight Rory MacDonald says if he wins at 170 and Mousasi at 185, then he’s moving up to challenge.
The trash talk is apparently already underway. Mousasi made his Bellator deubt vs. Alexander Shlemenko on October 20, winning a unanimous decision, but MacDonald said he’s not impressed.
https://twitter.com/rory_macdonald/status/921580597226737664
During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Mousasi was asked to respond.
Rory MacDonald can get it himself, said Mousasi as transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. Let him win his fight and then let him talk. He shouldn’t talk, he’s an idiot. He looks like a mass murderer. He should shut his mouth.
He’s a weird guy. Let him talk. Let him win his fights. He has his own bad performances, so he shouldn’t talk about me.
He’s a Canadian, I thought Canadians were more polite with that. He looks weird. Let him change his face before he talks.
While that cross-division fight is brewing, Mousasi has surgery on an orbital bone damaged in the Shlemenko fight, and will be watching middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho vs. Alessio Sakara on December 9 at Bellator 190 in Florence, Italy, with an eye towards a title challenge. And MacDonald challenges welterweight champ Douglas Lima at Bellator 192 on January 20.
