Last month, former Bellator welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov announced that he is now a free agent.
He posted on Instagram to share the news and reflect on his time in Bellator where he spent the best part of six years with the promotion. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Amosov provided more in details about the decision to leave Bellator and what his next steps will be.
Having teased a potential move over to the UFC in his initial post, whether we will see him step inside the Octagon was always going to be the question that everyone had on their minds.
Yaroslav Amosov Says The UFC Has Been On His Mind For Quite Some Time
Amosov detailed to Nolan King how he had been waiting to for his Bellator contract to expire after not being offered any fights by the promotion. However, leaving them to pursue his dreams of fighting in the UFC was already something that he had made clear, which he thinks may be why there was a longer period of waiting.
Maybe 2023, one maybe two years ago, we said to Bellator that we had a plan, we don’t want to continue on, we don’t want to sign new contract and after finishing contract, we go outside and I think that’s why continue my contract in one year. Maybe that’s why but yeah, we have plan, we will go to UFC."
- Yaroslav Amosov
The plan that Amosov speaks about is fairly simple, he wants to sign a one-fight deal elsewhere, potentially looking at January as an ideal time frame, and then move into the UFC.
This is somewhat similar to the path that former ONE Championship fighter Reinier de Ridder took recently where after getting one win on UAE Warriors, he was announced to have signed with the UFC shortly after. Amosov has clearly had his sights set on the MMA leader for some time but now he can put his plan into action.
Now we have plan. We sign contract to just one fight and after one fight, we want go to UFC.”
- Yaroslav Amosov
