When Phil Davis fought out his UFC contract and signed with Bellator last April, there was the expectation in some quarters that the floodgates would open and that Bellator would pick off a lot of UFC stars.

But little occurred.

On Monday, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson announced on his blog that he’d signed with Bellator, and again, the view of some is that it’s open season on UFC free agents.

And again, that would be wrong.

Bellator is unquestionably not competition for the UFC, and it’s not because it is in any way a so-called minor league.

Instead, it’s because the two companies have vastly different business models and needs.

View photos Benson Henderson is 2-2 in his last four UFC fights. (Getty) More

The UFC is, above all else, a pay-per-view company. It has a contract with Fox, but it uses its shows on Fox to attempt to build fighters into stars. It’s why featherweight champion Conor McGregor fought Denis Siver on Fox Sports 1 in January 2015 before he challenged Jose Aldo for the championship.

He was strategically placed on a Sunday night card on FS1 after a day in which Fox itself had NFL games. During those NFL broadcasts, which are seen by 10, 15 (or more) times as many viewers as watch a UFC show, the upcoming McGregor-Siver fight was hyped relentlessly.

In the UFC, appearing on free television is a pathway to pay-per-view.

In Bellator, it’s all about signing the recognizable names and putting them on Spike. That’s why at Bellator 149 on Feb. 19, the two main bouts are relics of MMA’s past. In the main event, Ken Shamrock, who will be 52 by then, will meet Royce Gracie, who is 49.

In the co-main, 42-year-old Kimbo Slice, who has never been a world-class fighter but rather an Internet curiosity, will face a guy known as Dada 5000. Dada’s real name is Dhafir Harris. He’s 39 and only has two real fights.

No one could honestly argue that they’re the best fighters in the world, or even close.

But three of the four of them are highly recognizable names in the MMA space and there is little doubt that Bellator will do very strong ratings for that show.

The companies are in the same industry but have vastly different goals and business models.

The UFC has a lot of fighters like Henderson, a good, elite-level fighter. But Henderson never broke through to become a major star who could sell pay-per-views.

At this stage of his career, had he stayed in the UFC, he would have been the guy who added depth to a card.

Take the UFC fight card that will be held Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden. It was originally a pay-per-view billed as UFC 196, with the main event being a heavyweight title rematch between Fabricio Werdum and ex-champ Cain Velasquez.

The co-main was a welterweight match between Johny Hendricks and Stephen Thompson.

But as a pay-per-view card, it lacked depth in the opinion of some potential customers. Imagine, though, if Henderson was on that card as the third fight, against a Tony Ferguson.

All of a sudden, the card would have looked a lot deeper and a lot more appealing. And Henderson’s presence as a former champion would have been critical to boost Ferguson. If that match had been made and Ferguson won, it would have pushed him to great visibility and perhaps stardom after beating a champion.

But there are a lot of quality fighters who fit that category. Despite Bellator’s success, the overwhelming majority of the best fighters in the world reside in the UFC.

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