Fans were shocked by the news of Jeremy Stephens’ UFC release.
And they were even more shocked when just days after he was signed by PFL.
Now, he’s speaking out about what went down with the UFC and why he decided to sign with the Professional Fighters League.
“I asked [the UFC] to give me a favorable matchup,” Stephens said on The MMA Hour. “I’ve been fighting beasts, a murderers row for two decades, and I just felt like I was getting iced out. Only fighting once a year, that’s not good on the bank account. I’m just trying to be typical, just like you, I’m trying to provide for my family and the only way I can do that is to fight, and they weren’t really fighting me.”
“I got options to go other places once that contract was up. I didn’t even realize I was up on the contract. Probably almost five months went by on the contract, and I didn’t realize my contract was up. I thought I had one more fight on there, and I searched my options and PFL, we’re gonna go do our best to knock everybody the f*ck out and get a million dollars.”
Stephens explained the reasons he decided to go with the PFL over another organization included the chance of fighting Anthony Pettis again.
“Definitely a potential matchup,” Stephens said. “But I’ve seen Anthony Pettis at the UFC, we were hanging, shaking hands, but honestly bro, he looked fat and out of shape. His cheeks looked like cheeseburgers. That boy looks like he’s getting paid too much. So I would love to run that back with Anthony.
“Last time, I turned him into a wrestler, he just wanted to wrestle me the whole time. We were in a different place and space at that time, I think now we could bring a lot more violence and action-packed, and I’m gonna be in better shape than that boy, trust me. He’s eating too good.”
Jeremy Stephens felt he was ‘getting iced out’ of UFC, wants a rematch with Anthony Pettis in PFL