Bellator have announced the signing of three UK fighters: Paul Sass, Martin Stapleton and Rob Sinclair.
Sass is perhaps the best known of the three due to his recent 3-2 run in the UFC which included wins over Jacob Volkmann and Michael Johnson and earned him the nickname of ‘Sassangle’ for his uncanny ability to catch people in triangle choke submissions.
Sinclair is BAMMA’s current lightweight champion, most recently defending the belt against former UFC fighter Andre Winner to take his career record to 12-2.
Finally, Stapleton is also welcomed aboard with a 12-1 overall record.
Interestingly, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has indicated that these three fighters were brought on-board to help strengthen their case to land a TV deal in the United Kingdom.
“With these three signings, along with a roster already featuring the likes of Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley, Ronnie Mann and Michael Page, we are setting the table for making Bellator an every week televised occurrence in the U.K,” Rebney said.
The signing of Sinclair in particular raises an eyebrow as it leads to questions over UK promotion BAMMA’s future. They last hosted an event in March and currently do not have another one scheduled at this moment in time.
Their roster and overall quality of fights has eroded over the past year despite striking a TV deal with Channel 5 in the UK and losing one of their homegrown champions is a major blow for them.
