Bellator MMA officially signs Lorenz Larkin

Seven months removed from his last fight with the UFC, welterweight contender Lorenz Larkin is now part of the Bellator MMA family. Larkin became a free agent following his TKO win over Neil Magny at UFC 202, having turned down a “lowball” offer from the UFC prior to the fight. It should be noted, of course, that Larkin vs. Magny was the “feature Fight Pass prelim,” so a battle between two top-10 fighters was essentially fought in a mostly empty T-Mobile Arena.

While the process and final decision took longer than expected, the Riverside-native told The Press Enterprise why Bellator MMA was the right fit for him.

“It’s been a long process, I didn’t expect it to be that long,” Larkin said. “I wanted someone to get behind me and have some faith that I can deliver and I can be an asset to wherever I go and that’s what I felt like with Bellator. They pretty much checked off all the things that I was looking for.”

Larkin says he was also pursued by the UFC (who offered him a contract this month), Rizin FF, and Absolute Championship Berkut. Terms of Larkin’s Bellator deal were not disclosed, other than it being an exclusive contract.

After starting out his UFC career 1-4, with all of his fights taking place at 185 lbs, the 30-year-old made the move down to 170 lbs, where he’s 4-1 and holds notable wins over Santiago Ponzinibbio, Jorge Masvidal, and the aforementioned Magny.

There’s no official date set for Larkin’s Bellator MMA debut, but the article said that he’s expected to compete by the end of the year.

“We are so happy to bring Lorenz back home,” Bellator CEO Scott Coker said. “There are a bunch of great matchups for him over here and I look forward to seeing his exciting style inside the Bellator cage soon.”

Larkin’s “exciting style” will now accompany the likes of Paul Daley, Rory MacDonald, Michael Page, Douglas Lima, and several others in an increasingly stacked Bellator welterweight division.