"We have offered Paulo to Sengoku or Strikeforce and that is where we want, if possible straight into a fight with Robbie Lawler…. The contract of Bellator is cruel. It is a new event and we opted not to put Paulo there because they did not want to put a clause in the contract that, if the guy is not fighting for four months, the contract loses its validity. We were just victims of this in EliteXC, which was bought out and left athletes at its mercy and without fighting for a good while."
-- Jorge Guimaraes -- the trainer for former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho -- tells Tatame (via Fighters Only magazine) that his fighter passed on an opportunity to compete under the Bellator Fighting Championships banner this summer. Instead, the Brazlian jiu-jitsu black belt is interested in returning to Japan to work for World Victory Road or stay stateside and try out the new-look Strikeforce. Zuffa executives opted not to move Filho from the WEC to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after a dreadful and bizarre performance against Chael Sonnen last year. Filho came in drastically overweight for the title fight and then delivered an extremely sluggish and "incoherent" performance. It was clear that the previously world-ranked and undefeated 185-pound fighter was clearly not right. And only time will tell if he can somehow recapture his old form.
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