SPORTS

UFC: Binghamton’s McCrory to fight on FOX in December

Matt Weinstein
mweinstein@gannett.com | @SteinTime44
  • Tamdan McCrory will fight on national TV in December on UFC on FOX 17
  • McCrory has a 2-0 record since returning to MMA after a five-year hiatus
  • McCrory will fight Josh Samman at UFC on FOX 17

Tamdan McCrory knows giving up a possible title shot in Bellator to sign with Ultimate Fighting Championship was a risk, but the incentives were too lucrative to pass up.

The move to the top mixed martial arts promotion in the world is already paying off for the Binghamton resident as he’s slated to make his UFC return on national TV on Dec. 19. McCrory, an Ithaca native, will fight Josh Samman in Orlando on UFC on FOX 17.

McCrory (13-3 record) appreciates the opportunity Bellator gave him, but fight bonus opportunities and sponsorship money in the UFC were the tipping point for his decision.

“I can make whatever I want in salary, but I’ve got a $50,000 check at the end of the tunnel every time I fight,” McCrory told MMAjunkie Radio, a Gannett property. “I’m going to take that roll of the dice.”

After accumulating a 3-3 record in six fights in the welterweight division (156-170 pounds) of the UFC from 2007-09, McCrory was released from his contract and took a five-year break from professional competition.

He signed with Bellator in 2014, moved to the middleweight division (171-185) and in two fights has two highlight-reel victories in a combined 87 seconds.

The UFC offers $50,000 bonuses for Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night. Bellator does not offer any bonuses. McCrory is also set to make $5,000 total in sponsorship money over his next three fights thanks to the promotion’s recent apparel deal with Reebok.

“In Bellator, I never really got any sponsors before, so cashing the $5,000 for doing nothing but wearing a uniform? Sign me up, dude,” he said.

McCrory, 28, may have gotten bonus or sponsorship money from a Bellator title win, but that was a risk as well and ultimately contract negotiations did not go the way he had hoped.

“I can’t knock Bellator for what they did for me because they gave me a shot, and I did the unexpected, or what people didn’t think I was going to do,” said McCrory, who owns B.C. Martial Arts. “It worked out in my benefit as far as bringing my stock back up. I knew my relationship with the UFC, when I left there, wasn’t a poor one. I may have gotten unnoticed for five years, but when I came back I displayed that it wasn’t for lack of experience.”

Tamdan McCrory runs B.C. Martial Arts in downtown Binghamton.

The main event of UFC on Fox 17 was previously announced as a lightweight title fight between champion Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone. Last week the promotion slated McCrory-Samman and a middleweight fight between C.B. Dollaway and Nate Marquardt as the first two fights on the undercard.

McCrory will have his hands full with Samman (12-2, 3-0 UFC), who has won four straight fights. Both fighters bring an aggressive style and a willingness to finish fights, which makes it an ideal matchup for a national primetime audience.

Samman has looked particularly impressive in his past two fights. He knocked out Eddie Gordon with a devastating second-round head kick at UFC 181 in December and then submitted Caio Magalhaes with a rear-naked choke in the first round in July.

With the future of Binghamton’s other UFC fighter — Jon “Bones” Jones — still up in the air, another’s stock is on the rise. McCrory now has the opportunity to show millions of people why it was the right decision to come back.

MMAjunkie.com contributed to this report.

Weinstein is the Active Life reporter for the Press & Sun-Bulletin. Contact him at mweinstein@pressconnects.com and on Twitter @SteinTime44