Jeremy Stephens has a new home.
This week it was announced that Stephens has left the UFC. He had been with them for almost 15years. With 34 fights in the organization, he was one of the longest-tenured fighters under contract. But now, the veteran lightweight is set to ply his trade in the PFL.
“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. It’s not financially beneficial to fight only once per year. 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 was granted the option to travel elsewhere once my contract expired. The contract was not up when I realized it. Probably almost five months went by on the contract, and I didn’t realize my contract was up. I was convinced I still had a fight, so I looked into my options. PFL said that we would try our hardest to win every single person and make a million bucks.
Stephens stated that he had spoken to several organizations, but decided to sign with PFL due to the matchups and frequency with which he would be competing.
“It’s a great organization, the fighters over there, the matchups, the potential,” Stephens said of the PFL. Stephens said that the PFL would pay him a bit more than UFC fighters and give me a chance to win a million dollars. This is something I love. Maybe go in there, win that million dollars, and I like the fact that they fight back to back, month after month. I don’t get any older. I love to constantly be fighting. I don’t like sitting and waiting for opponents six months down the road. I’d rather fight once every three months.”
Stephens, who competed at both lightweight and featherweight during his UFC run, announced he will take part in the PFL’s upcoming lightweight tournament. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of competing in other divisions as well in the future.
“If I can keep doing that, win the million dollars, if they happen to do a [featherweight tournament in] the next one … I’ll drop down and steal the million dollars from the 45ers too,” Stephens said. “F*ck, I’ll even go up to [welterweight]. There’s opportunity out there, and there’s fights, there’s matchups.”
Among those is a rematch with former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. Stephens was defeated by Pettis in a split decision at UFC 136,. He said that he would like to have the chance to do it again with the two men who were once again under one promotional banner.
“Definitely a potential matchup,” Stephens said. But I saw Anthony Pettis in the UFC. We were hanging out, shaking hands but he seemed overweight and out of control. His cheeks were like cheeseburgers. He looks like he is getting too rich. That’s why I love 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 much .”
The PFL has announced a multi-year deal with ESPN. Their 2022 season will begin in April 20..
