Josh Thomson is now a member of the Bellator lightweight roster as he has signed an exclusive multi-year, multi-fight contract with the California based promotion.
The signing of Thomson was announced in a press release on Tuesday evening.
“I had the pleasure of working with Josh in Strikeforce and I look forward to continuing this relationship in Bellator MMA. Josh is a world-class mixed martial artist and we are very happy to be adding him to our roster of some of the best lightweights in the world,” said Bellator President, Scott Coker. “Bellator remains fully committed to building its roster by signing top free agents like Thomson, as well as grooming up-and-coming blue-chip stars. We have some amazing matchups in mind for “The Punk” that we hope to be announcing in the weeks to come.”
Thomson (20-8, 1NC) most recently competed in the UFC as it was his second stint with them. He went 1-3 in his most recent stint with the UFC and he will enter Bellator on a three losing streak. His contract with the UFC recently expired and in the press release announcing his signing with Bellator, Thomson wanted to clear up an article from earlier today.
“I’m over here reading this UFC reporter saying that they’ve declined to re-sign me when the truth of the matter is that they’ve been trying to re-sign me for my last two fights,” Thomson said. “I declined and instead chose to fight out my contract and test the free agency market with Bellator. At that point, Bellator made me an offer that the UFC was unable to match given their relationships with FOX and Reebok. It’s a done deal, I’m back working with Coker, and I couldn’t be more excited to get back to an organization that is trending upwards with fighter-friendly contracts. Any intelligent fighter is going to go where the money is, and for me the money was at Bellator.”
The debut of Thomson is Bellator will be announced in the coming months.