Brett Johns explains his decision to part ways with the UFC for Bellator: “They weren’t willing to pay the money”

Bantamweight Brett Johns explained his decision to part ways with the UFC for Bellator, saying that “they weren’t willing to pay the money.”

Johns went 5-2 overall in the UFC from 2016 to 2020, and he finished off his run in the Octagon with back-to-back wins over Montel Jackson and Tony Gravely. He is a very good bantamweight fighter and considering he is just 29 years old, the Wales native still has a ton of untapped potential and upside in the sport. By all accounts, this looks to be a tremendous signing for Bellator, and it’s a wonder why the UFC let Johns get away.

Speaking to MMAjunkie.com ahead of his Bellator 259 matchup against Danny Sabatello, Johns explained that he left the UFC for Bellator because they made him a better offer.

“Basically, in a nutshell, we looked at the contract after it was finished, and we looked back at our career with the amount of fights that we had, the people that we had fought, and financially things didn’t add up in our mind. So we got on a call with the UFC and tried to renegotiate our contract and they didn’t feel like I was worth that money, but we knew I was. We looked at the other guys in the division, and there was a couple of guys who had similar fights, I won’t name specific names, but there was a fighter who was 5-2 such as us, but I didn’t feel he had fought the caliber of competition that I personally did. He was making about $20,000 more. So we approached the UFC with that, and they turned around and said they weren’t willing to pay the money, so we tested the waters of free agency, and Bellator came up. I haven’t looked back since,” Johns said.

How do you think Brett Johns will fare in Bellator after leaving the UFC?