Bryan Baker was defeated last Friday night at Bellator 72 by Karl Amoussou in the finals of the season six welterweight tournament and the end of his Bellator contract is coming up.
During the post fight press conference, he stated that he believed his contract was due to expire around October.
“I’m not sure if it’s October or not,” Baker said. “My contract with Bellator is ending soon. Bjorn said I am welcomed back and I am looking forward to coming back.”
All indications are that Bellator will attempt to bring Baker back and have him compete in the welterweight division. This was his third tournament in Bellator, but his first tournament as a welterweight.
Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney told The MMA Report that he was unsure if Baker would be able to make 170 before the six season tournament started.
“I didn’t think he would be able to make 70, but now that I see him at 70 and I saw him in his last fight against Saunders,” Rebney said. “First fight he gases a little bit, but I just think the cut was off because he didn’t try to bring what was literally a three percent body fat at 185 down to 70.”
Rebney does believe that the welterweight division is the ideal weight class for Baker and he saw a different fighter in the semifinal fight against Ben Saunders. He defeated Saunders by unanimous decision and Rebney said he noticed his gas tank was still there in the final minutes of the fight.
“In the Ben Saunders fight, he looked great and he had a full gas tank at the end of the 14th minute,” Rebney said. “I think 70 is his weight class, we are going to keep working with Bryan and he is awesome.”
The next Bellator welterweight tournament will take place in the seventh season of Bellator and will start off on September 28th at Bellator 74. It does not appear likely that Baker will be a participant in that tournament with his wife being pregnant at this time.
If Baker does take a fight in the seventh season of Bellator it would be a non-tournament fight and he will likely be a participant in the tournament when Bellator moves to Spike TV in January of next year.