WSOF’s Paul Bradley: I was on Bellator’s release list for finishing its ‘golden boy’

Paul Bradley competed in the final fight on his Bellator MMA contract at Bellator 148 earlier this year. Despite heading into a rematch against Chris Honeycutt as the underdog, he pulled off the victory with a stunning first-round TKO.

After the win, one could assume the Viacom-owned organization would be more than willing to sign Bradley to a new deal. But that was not the case. Instead, officials delayed the re-signing of “The Gentleman.”

“It was one of those things where I’m coming off that big win against [Chris] Honeycutt, and I’d been told for awhile I was getting a new contract,” Bradley told BloodyElbow.com. “That was the last fight on my contract with Bellator. They kind of kept dragging their feet. They told me they’d get me a contract in April; then they said they’d get it to us in June, nothing there.”

Bradley was actually on a list of fighters who were potentially not going to be re-signed by Bellator MMA, despite currently riding a three-fight unbeaten streak. He wasn’t aware of that until contacting Bellator MMA’s matchmaker, Rich Chou. Although the news was very surprising to him, it explained the delays.

“Finally, I kept hounding Rich Chou. He called me, and he basically told me that there were too many fighters and not enough events. And I was actually on a potential list to not be re-signed,” he revealed. “I’m not the only one; I’ve talked to a few other fighters. But I don’t want to bring their names up. I’ll be very surprised when I see more names on that list that are coming out that won’t be re-signed. I have one guy in my head in particular, and I’m just like, ‘Wow, really?’ The guy’s on a two-fight win streak with two nasty knockouts. I’m not the only one.

“I’m not really sure what direction Bellator is headed in. I think they’re more focused on building the stars they want to build — the MVPs and the Honeycutts and the Josh Thomsons, and all the other guys, who are still winning, are going to be on that list.”

Bellator MMA explained to Bradley that it wasn’t able to accommodate his need of three fights per year, but Bradley doesn’t buy that. He believes the organization, headed by Scott Coker, was unhappy with him because he defeated a top prospect it was looking to push in Honeycutt.

“I think the big thing about it was, they kind of tried to make it seem like they were doing me a favor. I need to fight three times a year is what they told me and that they’re not able to do that,” he said. “When we get down to the reality of things, let’s be honest. I took a big crap on their party with the golden boy. That was their guy that was supposed to be the next big thing. After he beat me (or so Bellator MMA thought), what I was hearing was, he was either going to get the No. 1 contender fight or a title shot with an impressive win.

“Everything I had heard through the grapevine was they just weren’t real happy with me winning that fight. I don’t think that helped, but at the same time, I went out there and did my job, and here I am getting punished for it. It’s one of those things. It’s crazy. You go out there and put on the show that people want to see. I don’t want to sound like a disgruntled employee but some of the stuff, it was kind of obvious that they didn’t want me, or they were upset with me winning, or something. Heck, all companies do the birthday thing for the fighters, and I didn’t even get one of those. So, when that happened, I was kind of like, ‘Man, they must really not like me, or there must be something going on.’

“Had I lost to Honeycutt, yeah, of course, they were going to cut me. It just put them in a really weird situation because they were planning on trying to use me and my name as credibility for him to get the next big fight or title shot.”

Bradley wasn’t pleased with Bellator MMA throughout his tenure with it, especially when its executives were in negotiations with him after his contract expired. But that was far from the only problem Bradley had with the organization.

“Honestly, no, not at all,” he said, when asked whether or not he was happy with Bellator MMA. “They did some things — and I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t like the former champ at 155 pounds, [Will …

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