Gegard Mousasi is set to return to the cage tomorrow against Rafael Lovato Jr. in the main event of Bellator London. There, Mousasi is coming off of a TKO win over Rory MacDonald in September.
Although Mousasi has been fighting professionally since 2003, the middleweight champion says he doesn’t love the sport. Rather, he is just doing it for a payday.
“I’m fighting to get paid,” Mousasi said to MMA Fighting. “I’m not doing this because I love the sport so much. I’m not a crazy person. The motivation if I beat these guys, if I keep winning, my paycheck will go up eventually after my contract is done. That’s the motivation for me. It’s my job.
“The better you do, the more you make. It’s the same for a doctor or lawyer. If you’re a better lawyer, you’re going to make more money. That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to be the best fighter that I can be to beat these guys and then I get a better contract. That’s the whole thing that keeps me going. Fighting is not my life.”
Ultimately, Gegard Mousasi further explains he doesn’t really need to fight. He is making more than enough doing real estate, and if Bellator wants him to do superfights, he will need to negotiate his contract.
“I got three fights on my contract. I want to win them, I want to finish them,” Mousasi explained. “I made my money with good investments, I’m going to make maybe $1 million a year just with my real estate. So for me to go and say I’ll continue fighting, I don’t need to do it. If they come and say ‘we’ll pay you this much to come and fight’ then sure why not. I feel like I’m in my prime. It’s not like I’m losing, and I’m just going in there to get paid.
“It all depends on payments, it all depends on the results of the fight, it all depends on my injuries. This stuff is not fun for me anymore. It’s just my work. The better I work, the more they pay me.”