A rumour has started to circulate that UK promotion BAMMA and US promotion Bellator are to share fighters for future shows.
Bellator FC and UK promotion BAMMA apparently have an informal talent-sharing agreement in place. Fighter’s Only first broke the rumour.
British welterweight Jimmy Wallhead is currently signed to Bellator but will be allowed to fight for BAMMA in the near future, a source close to the fighter says.
The source also says that BAMMA will happily reciprocate if Bellator desires the services of any of its exclusively-contracted fighters.
BAMMA recently signed Nate Marquardt to just such an exclusive deal, raising the possibility of him being able to take a Bellator fight if offered one.
That would depend on Bellator having a superfight match-up available for him though, as most of the promotion’s matches take place as part of their grand prix tournaments across the various weight classes.
BAMMA has an event taking place in the UK on September 10th and Wallhead is possibly going to be appearing on that card.
Marquardt is also expected to feature on the September card. Fighting in BAMMA’s welterweight division, the obvious match is with Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley as the two don’t like each other at all and both are high-ranked.
Daley’s contract with Strikeforce allows him to fight for other promotions but only after obtaining specific permission. This raises the possibility that Strikeforce, now Zuffa-owned, might deny him the right to fight Marquardt in order to deprive BAMMA of a fight that would get international attention.
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