By Damon Martin

On Monday, Gegard Mousasi put pen to paper on a new six-fight deal to sign with Bellator MMA after spending the past four years in the UFC.

Mousasi was ranked as one of the top five middleweights in the world, but despite his best efforts to reach a new deal with the UFC, the two sides could not come to an agreement.

There were a myriad of reasons why Mousasi ultimately opted to sign with Bellator but he'd be lying if he said the UFC's current outfitting deal with Reebok didn't play at least a small part in his decision.

The multi-year deal between the UFC and Reebok now pays fighters based on seniority in the organization with non-champions only able to make a maximum of $20,000 per fight unless they advance to a title shot when the payout is increased to $30,000.

Mousasi believes the deal with Reebok just siphoned money away from the fighters and that never sat well with him and he knows there are plenty of others in the UFC who would say the same if not for fear of retribution.

"The Reebok deal is stealing money from the fighters," Mousasi told FloCombat on Monday. "I make OK money, I'm comfortable. A lot of fighters don't make that so they rely on the sponsors. Once you cut eighty percent of their check, of course no one is satisfied with Reebok. The fighters certainly are not. I can say that now because I'm not associated with Reebok. I can say the truth.

"These guys cannot say because if they speak out they're going to get punished or they get crap. Even Reebok is not happy. I don't think the UFC is happy."

Mousasi feels like the Reebok deal was originally signed as a way to make the UFC look more professional, which in turn made the promotion more enticing to potential buyers.

The end result was the UFC being sold to a conglomerate led by WME-IMG that paid over $4 billion for the organization last year.

"The Reebok deal was made to sell the company for $4 billion to make the UFC look more professional like the NBA or football players. It wasn't there to help the fighters out," Mousasi said.

In the long run, Mousasi feels like the Reebok deal will continue to haunt the UFC because the discontent amongst the fighters will only fester and grow as time moves forward while the pay scale does not.

As of now, Mousasi doesn't see anything changing in the relationship between the UFC and Reebok, but eventually something will have to give or more fighters are going to continue seeking opportunities away from the Octagon.

"I'm on the fighters' side. You cannot expect me to be on the Reebok side or the UFC's side because they're cutting our checks to sell the company for $4 billion," Mousasi explained. "It's OK because the UFC has provided that for the fighters to make a living but it goes both way. You give some, you get some.

"To take so much money away from the fighters, maybe they're going to do something next year where a fighter could have one sponsor on their shorts. That's the road they're going to take, I believe."

As upset as Mousasi was about the Reebok deal on his way out of the UFC, he still had nothing but good things to say about the way the promotion treated him during the time he spent there.

During his time with the UFC, Mousasi was a part of a main event or co-main event in all but one of his 12 fights with the promotion. He'll never regret the time he spent with the UFC, but Mousasi is ready to start the next chapter of his career as part of the Bellator roster.

"The UFC has treated me well," Mousasi said. "Overall, I've been treated well, I had good opportunities so I'm not here to complain."

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