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Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer
Former Bellator MMA champion Gegard Mousasi has filed a lawsuit against his former promotion in U.S. District Court seeking damages of at least $15 million.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New Jersey, essentially accuses Bellator and PFL, the U.S.-based promotion that purchased it late last year, of icing him out of activity due to a lucrative contract he signed in 2020. Among his legal complaints against Bellator are breach of contract and misclassification as an independent contractor rather than an employee while he was under contract from 2017 to 2024. Multiple PFL executives are named as defendants, including chairman Donn Davis and CEO Peter Murray.
Mousasi, 39, says he signed an eight-fight extension with Bellator in 2020 that would pay him $150,000 per bout, with escalators in the second half of the contract of up to $850,000 per fight. Once Mousasi had fulfilled the first half of his contract by June 2022, the lawsuit states, he struggled to get Bellator to book him fights. The situation resulted in him accepting a fight against Fabian Edwards in May 2023 in which he says he was injured. Mousasi lost by decision.
The lawsuit includes an outline of various attempts made by Mousasi’s manager, Nima Safapour, to increase his activity, particularly after PFL’s purchase of Bellator.
The situation reached a head in May, when Mousasi publicly aired his frustrations with Bellator’s new ownership. The company released Mousasi later that month.
PFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mousasi (49-9-2) is a former champion of multiple MMA promotions, having held titles in Bellator, DREAM, Cage Warriors and Strikeforce. He fought in the UFC from 2013 to 2017 and was close to contending for a championship there before opting to sign with Bellator in 2017. He trains out of the Netherlands.