Dana White not ruling out onboarding Bellator fighters amid rumors of shutdown: Who could make the cut?

Bellator has been a hot topic in MMA for some time now. Recently, the promotion's reigning middleweight champion Johnny Elben made headlines after knocking out Fabian Edwards, allegedly spitting on him, and engaging in an in-cage confrontation with the latter's brother, UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

But it isn't the only noteworthy bit of news involving the promotion. While previous rumors pointed towards the PFL absorbing it in a takeover, now a new rumor has sprung up, which suggests that the promotion is on the verge of going under. Amid these rumors, UFC CEO Dana White was asked for his thoughts on the matter.

In particular, he was asked about the possibility of the UFC signing a few Bellator fighters. White was previously critical of the initial rumor that suggested that the PFL was on the verge of buying the promotion, describing them as organizations that burned money, instead of making it.

But regarding the possibility of the UFC signing Bellator fighters, especially Johnny Elben and Patrício 'Pitbull' Freire, he was non-committal, but seemed slightly open to the idea, saying the following:

"I haven't even thought about it. I mean, if we were even remotely interested in Bellator, we would've been a bidder, but there's nothing really at Bellator that's really interested me, so. I'm not saying that there weren't some guys that... but we're not thinking about or looking at that at all right now. As far as I know them, the PFL deal's happening. Listen, I haven't been thinking about anybody, but who knows what could happen?"

It wouldn't be unheard of if he did sign certain fighters from the rival promotion. Michael Chandler was brought onboard and has quickly become one of the UFC's most prominent fighters. Michael 'Venom' Page recently finished his Bellator contract and has expressed an interest in fighting in the UFC.

Patrício 'Pitbull' Freire is known for frequently jabbing at the UFC's greatest fighters and claiming that he could defeat the likes of Alexander Volkanovski. Meanwhile, Johnny Eblen has expressed a desire to fight Leon Edwards and also declared his hatred for UFC title challenger Colby Covington.

So if the UFC does sign them, there are ready-made fights awaiting them. Although Eblen is a middleweight, and both Edwards and Covington are welterweights. Edwards, however, is an exceptionally large welterweight, and Covington has previously flirted with the idea of a middleweight bout.