For many years, Rory MacDonald and Gegard Mousasi were counted among the best fighters competing in the UFC.

Now, both fighters are part of the Bellator MMA roster, where they are about to face off in a champion versus champion fight Sept. 29 at Bellator 206 in San Jose.

MacDonald, Bellator's welterweight champion, will move up to middleweight to challenge Mousasi for his title.

Both MacDonald and Mousasi have spoken at length in the past about the reasons behind the decision to leave the UFC for Bellator, and now it definitely seems like each of them is satisfied with that move.

In MacDonald's case, he's currently the champion of arguably the deepest division in Bellator, with the organization about to launch a welterweight Grand Prix later this year that will feature eight of the best fighters in the world at 170 pounds.

MacDonald, who was the last person to defeat current UFC champion Tyron Woodley, says he prefers what's happening with the welterweight division in Bellator versus his previous home inside the Octagon.

"I think they're competing very well," MacDonald said about his current home when speaking on the Bellator 206 media conference call Wednesday. "I like what Bellator's doing with management better. I think we have a more exciting division, especially with the way they're doing tournaments. I just think they're managing it better, their talent. They're giving us better opportunities."

MacDonald did send some love the UFC's way—only to smash it a second later.

"I mean obviously the UFC has great talent but the matchups and the way they're managing it—I don't find it very intriguing and I find the fans are feeling the same way about it," MacDonald said.





While they might disagree who is going to win Sept. 29, Mousasi says largely the same thing about his former employers, especially now that he's part of the Bellator MMA roster.

Mousasi had often complained when he was fighting in the UFC that he wasn't being given the best opportunities, despite a resume that could stand up to nearly anybody's in the sport.

Now, the former UFC middleweight contender believes the promotion is sinking while Bellator is swimming toward a better and brighter future.

"Bellator is growing, no doubt about it," Mousasi said. "The last couple years I was fighting [for the] UFC, and at Bellator 200 I got the opportunity to fight in the main event. Now fighting Rory in a super fight on DAZN, I get to fight for the belt. These opportunities that I got now, I wouldn't have gotten if I was in the UFC. I'm very thankful. They have trust in me. I just have to do my job and put on good fights and win. Bellator is growing. It's going very well."

Taking it a step further, Mousasi gave specific reasons for those feelings.

"I feel the UFC is declining cause they're putting on bad cards," he said. "The main events are not that intriguing. You have a lot of big names now fighting in Bellator. Obviously, [Lyoto] Machida is now here, Ryan Bader, you have Matt Mitrione, you have so many big names. I think of my long career, I'm now where I should be."

All that being said, Bellator will put on arguably their biggest card of the year when Mousasi faces MacDonald Sept. 29, but just one week later the UFC will undoubtedly grab back all the headlines as Conor McGregor makes his long-awaited return to the cage to face Khabib Nurmagomedov Oct. 6 in Las Vegas.