Being No. 2 in the world of MMA promotion can be an unforgiving position, just ask Pride FC founder Nobuyuki Sakakibara. However, things may be looking up for a current second fiddle, Bellator MMA as a swath of former UFC fighters are urging current fighters to test free agency.
Recently Bellator has been making a strong push to acquire top UFC talent. Whereas previous similar attempts resulted mostly in milking the last remaining drops of celebrity out of faded former stars, in the past year it has managed to sign ranked contenders Phil Davis, Benson Henderson, Matt Mitrione, and Josh Thomson from the UFC by offering the fighters things the UFC does not.