The Ultimate Fighting Championship might be gearing up for some huge fight cards, but other promotions continue their efforts to dent its dominance.
Bellator has achieved a couple of coups by attracting Benson Henderson and Matt Mitrione, but their latest new addition is a man whose time with UFC has been over for a while.
Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran developed a reputation as one of the best cutmen in the business, working with the likes of Mirko Cro Cop during his time in the promotion, but was controversially let go in July after speaking out about the UFC’s contentious Reebok sponsorship deal.
@daej81 You will be the first to know that the UFC just let me go because I spoke out about the Reebok deal. Got to look for a new job!
— Jacob Stitch Duran (@StitchDuran) July 21, 2015
MMAFighting has confirmed the first Bellator fight to feature ‘Stitch’ will be a big one – Henderson’s title bout against Andrey Koreshev.
“I can’t wait to get started working for a great organization that respects their employees and truly makes their fighters the top priority,” the Californian said in a statement, in what many are bound to read as him throwing shade at a certain other MMA promotion.
While Bellator is some way away from generating comparable excitement to events like UFC 200, some of its recent recruitments are certainly getting people to sit up and take notice.
