By Kelsey Mowatt After Bibiano Fernandes had a break-out MMA campaign in 2009, going 4-0 and winning Dream’s featherweight championship, it looks as though the decorated jiu-jitsu competitor may go through 2010 having fought just one once. After earning a split decision win over Joachim Hansen at Dream 13 in March, Fernandes did not get paid for the bout until just recently, leading many to speculate as to what’s next for the 8-2 fighter.
“At this point Bibbi (Bibiano) doesn’t have anything booked with Dream or any other organization,” said UFC veteran Bill Mahood, who helps guide the career of Fernandes (pictured above) through Epic Fight Management. “He’s kind of just playing things by ear. Bibbi’s a very, very, faith bound guy; he believes God has a plan, and he believes that when God wants him to do something he’ll reveal his plan. So for now he’s just chilling out and training, coaching his classes with Revolution; he’s the main jiu-jitsu instructor there.”
“He believes God has a plan and when he feels the urge to go back and compete, then Bibbi will make the decision as to when and who,” Mahood added. “I don’t think he’s ruling out anything. He loves it in Japan; he really does, he loves competing in Japan. He loves the weight class, competing at 138; for him that’s the perfect weight class. Bibbi could fight at 135 and he could make 145, but, he really likes 138 as I guess it’s the same weight class that they do in the world jiu-jitsu championships.”
While Mahood is understandably happy that Fernandes finally received payment from Dream, and despite the fact the featherweight evidently still wants to compete in Japan, there’s no denying it’s been a troubling few months.
“Well it’s always frustrating when you finish doing your work and then you have to wait to get your pay check,” said Mahood, when asked to comment on Dream. “It also doesn’t help that there’s a lot of speculation about what’s going on there, and you would obviously hate to be the one guy whose owed money, if in fact something bad happened and the company was to fold. Like I say though, Bibiano always has a lot of faith in God, so I don’t think he was ever that stressed about it.”
As it looks now, Dream’s parent company, FEG, will not be promoting any more MMA events in 2010 until New Year’s Eve. The annual December 31st Dynamite card has historically featured many of the promotion’s top fighters.
“Yes, they’ve made some rumblings in that they might like to see him in there for their New Year’s Eve show,” said Mahood when asked about the possibility of Fernandes fighting on the Dynamite card. “But at this point, there hasn’t really been anything firmed up or anything solid offered.”
So, while speculation continues as to the financial stability and future of Dream, it also remains to be seen when in fact Fernandes will fight again.
