Report: Takanori Gomi signs with World Victory Road

The following was reported by mmafighting.com.

Though rumors had the Pride lightweight champion close to a deal with the UFC, Sherdog.com reports that Takanori Gomi has signed with World Victory Road.

Since Zuffa’s purchase of Pride, “The Fireball Kid” has been one the more hotly sought after free agents on the market. With this deal sealed, Gomi is expected to debut on the March 5th Sengoku card against a still undecided opponent. Specifics regarding the length of the deal haven’t been confirmed, but the former Pride star is expected to make approximately 190,000 USD per fight.

Gomi has been out of the ring since his spectacular fight, and submission loss, against Nick Diaz in February of last year. The bout was later overturned to a No Decision due to Diaz testing positive for marijuana.

Gomi currently ranks number one on MMAFighting.com's list of the top lightweights in the world.

For my own take, this is a serious blow to the UFC's pride. Obviously they have deep enough pockets but for a cupcake organization to be able to sign Gomi for that kind of amount says they mean business. Not to mention, Gomi past up on all the recognization that comes with being a UFC fighter and is an instant threat in the lightweight division.

There's gotta be some behind the scenes stuff that we, the fan, don't know about. Of course we don't know the behind the scenes stuff but why are high profile fighters turning a cold shoulder to the UFC?