A familiar name from the UFC, Rick ‘The Horror’ Story has signed on with the PFL to compete in their million dollar tournament later this year.
Rick Story was last seen fighting Cowboy Cerrone at UFC 202 in August 2016. Since then, he’s been out of the fight game, and training to be a fire fighter. However, on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Story — a 19 fight veteran of the UFC — announced he’d signed on with the PFL.
Story will make his debut later this Summer, though it will not be part of the promotion’s first event in June. He joins former Bellator champ and UFC fighter Will Brooks in the promotion, albeit in a different weight class.
Story hinted at the news last week, though many speculated he had either renewed his deal with the UFC, or opted to go with Bellator. The Cerrone fight, which put him at 3-1 in his last four fights, was the final bout on his UFC contract. He had chosen to fight out his deal, rather than sign an offer the UFC put forward prior to his fight with Cowboy.
I’m Back! News to come next week.
— Rick (@Rick_Story) March 11, 2018
Story announced the signing by saying that he had “just recently signed a contract with the PFL,” adding “I’m pretty excited to fight with that promotion and see what I can do.”
When pressed for the reason behind the move, Story admitted that he had “rolled the dice and tried to gamble with going into that fight with Cerrone” to see if he could negotiate more pay. When that backfired, he wound up sidelinded. He said he “wanted to wait for a better opportunity to come available, and it finally came” in regards to the PFL’s offer.
And in regards to the UFC’s offer, it didn’t sound like they came back with anything new after their original proposal prior to the Cerrone fight. Which Story was really not interested in. “I didn’t really think it was that fair, just for the fact that guys I had beat were getting paid pretty much double what I was making,” he said. “It just kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
While retirement did cross his mind, especially when he was pursuing fire fighting, the upcoming tournament is certainly a big opportunity for Rick Story. And while no opponent or premiere date has been announced for the fighter, he will almost certainly be a favorite to win the welterweight bracket.
