The Barn Cat is returning to the UFC as Tamdan McCrory has signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion and will compete in the middleweight division.
The UFC announced the signing of McCrory on Tuesday afternoon.
“I left a title shot in [my last promotion] to come to the UFC,” McCrory told UFC.com. “If I wanted to win that belt I could have stayed and done it, but I wanted to be back in the sport of MMA, not the MMA entertainment business.”
McCrory (13-3) returned to MMA competition last year after being away for five years and scored victories against Brennan Ward and Jason Butcher in Bellator. Both of those wins came in the first round and lasted a combined 87 seconds.
What happened with McCrory and Bellator? He explained to The MMA Report on Tuesday afternoon that his team could not come to terms with Bellator on the future and asked to be released from his current contract with the promotion.
“We couldn’t come to terms on continuing my career with them, so I asked to be released and look for other options,” McCrory said in a statement to The MMA Report.
McCrory’s return to the UFC will take place later this year and is hoping to have a fight booked in October or November.