Chicago, IL — Following PFL 3 on Friday, PFL President of Fighter Operations Ray Sefo addressed Gegard Mousasi’s recent complaint about not being put to use since the league acquired Bellator MMA earlier this year.
“My manager tries to contact them, and they don’t even respond. There’s no effort to promote [me] or get me a fight,” Mousasi, a former Bellator middleweight champ, told MMA Junkie in an interview published earlier this week.
Not so, Sefo told Cageside Press during Friday’s post-fight press conference.
“I had an offer for him [Mousasi] to fight at 205, and he turned it down. I don’t know where that miscommunication was,” Sefo responded, without naming the opponent in question. Sefo, a former fighter himself, went on to reveal that the bout would have been part of the PFL vs. Bellator Champions card.
“They asked for certain people, and those people weren’t on the card. And then of course as any card goes along, you match it today and hope for the best, hope that nobody gets injured. Throughout that Champions vs. Champions I think we had three, four guys fall out due to injuries and whatnot. Certain things had to happen and we had to pull certain people in.”
“An offer was offered to his manager, from me, and they turned it down,” Sefo added. “They said no.”
Sefo, however, believes that Mousasi and the league will be able to move forward. “Absolutely. We’ve got to sit down and work out what makes sense and go from there.”
Asked about any new talent coming into the PFL, Sefo let slip that the league had inked a deal with a top Irish prospect in Cage Warriors star Paul Hughes.
“We signed Paul Hughes already. So keep that to yourself,” joked Sefo.
With an 11-1 record and riding a five-fight win streak, lightweight Hughes has been seen as a UFC-ready talent— or perhaps PFL-ready talent in this case. He holds a win over current UFC fighter Morgan Charriere, and is a former Cage Warriors featherweight champ.
Watch the full PFL 3 post-fight press conference with Ray Sefo above.
