On May 17, the next Bellator tournament will be held in Paris, which will be headlined by the fight for the lightweight title between two Russian fighters: Usman Nurmagomedov and Alexander Chablius. This fight has been expected for a long time, as both athletes have repeatedly proven that they are the best in this division.
This meeting was initially expected to be the final of the Grand Prix, which began last year. Chabliy then beat Tofik Musaev and Patrick Freire, and Usman took care of Benson Henderson and Brent Primus. However, Nurmagomedov’s last fight was soon declared invalid, as the Russian failed a doping test and served a six-month disqualification.
Chablius could become Usman’s most serious rival:
Russian final in the American League. Nurmagomedov will fight the Kuban Cossack.
Now Usman returns and will immediately defend the belt in a fight with Chablius, and this fight now raises a lot of questions from the organization’s point of view. At the end of last year, Bellator was taken under the wing of the PFL and the new owners did not clarify whether the Grand Prix was at stake, where, in addition to the belt, 1 million dollars was at stake, which is already impressive.
Usman never made any comments about it and only dedicated a post to him on social networks: “Officially May 17. I don’t care who will be in front of me in this cage, put any fighter in and close this cage. Then I will solve it myself.”
Usman Nurmagomedov
Photo: Hans Gutknecht/Getty Images
But Shabliya is really concerned about the question of whether the new leadership will fulfill its obligations. At first, Alexander said that he had not yet received a contract for the already announced fight, and then reflected on the actions of the PFL management: “I am not satisfied with the current situation. After the merger with Bellator, I think PFL, as the parent company, should comply with all terms and conditions. It seems like we’re just fighting for the belt and title, and I’m not sure about the prize money guarantee. PFL must fulfill the commitments it has received from Bellator. It wants to compete with the UFC and be a respected league, so I think it should live up to those claims. Once again: I made all the necessary efforts. We have trained hard in many fields and I hope they pay the promised prize. Things aren’t looking good right now. If PFL wants to be taken seriously as a legitimate competitor in the market, it must live up to its responsibilities. Right now it seems like they are letting us down.”
At first, the PFL never talked about Grand Prix obligations. The only point was that Bellator would continue to exist, but as one of the divisions of the PFL: the Bellator Champions Series. And at least in the first years there will be eight tournaments a year, in each of which two winners are expected.
Chabliy said the other day that they sent him the contract, but he was not satisfied with some points and, most importantly, that it was not about any million: “The contract was sent a couple of days ago, it was not there. all this time. We were not satisfied with the conditions, our lawyer sent the points with which we do not agree and we are now waiting for a response from the organization. The new owners do not want to commit to finishing the Grand Prix because they did not start this story and they do not want to take it to the end. Additionally, they believe the Grand Prix fell apart because Usman broke the rules by failing a drug test and there is no finalist. We insist that the same conditions must remain for me.”
Alexander Shabliy
Photo: twitter.com/BellatorMMA
From the PFL side it doesn’t look very professional. It is clear that they also have their own tournaments. The new season has already begun, where $1 million will also be at stake in each weight category, and they see no point in spending money on Bellator tournaments. In addition, there are also important events, such as the PFL vs Bellator joint tournaments. However, the fighters who entered the Grand Prix fights with some motivation are not to blame for this. Chablius’ statements are completely correct: he deservedly reached the final and has the right to demand what is his.
Furthermore, this behavior of the PFL will make fighters think about moving to other organizations. Chabliy himself, after the Grand Prix semi-final, received an offer from the UFC: “They came to us after the semi-final fight with Pitbull. In general, for me the UFC is a past stage. I knocked on these doors, they said: “Yes, we will sign”, but everything dragged on: I spent six months in the United States, they promised me a fight, but in the end I accepted the offer from Bellator. And now they themselves have come to us after this battle, but so far I am not interested. In general, UFC rarely approaches anyone, but in our case they expressed interest. “We said we have plans to finish the Grand Prix final, we have one more defense under our contract and after that we are ready to talk.”
Although Shabliy publicly expresses his displeasure with the promotion’s actions, he does not put the fight with Usman at risk: “I can’t imagine the option of not fighting Usman, because an enormous amount of work has been done.” made. There is a goal, May 17, and the fact that there is now a misunderstanding with the organization for a million dollars does not confuse me at all. The goal is to win the fight, even if there are tests later.”
Chablius apparently still has a “fight” ahead of him to avoid being “dumped,” but for now the PFL’s professionalism raises some questions. Essentially, the league is simply trying to use Usman’s drug test as a cover to avoid paying. This definitely gives them good publicity.
