Wednesday morning, news surfaced that the UFC had removed Rory MacDonald from their official welterweight rankings.

This led to much speculation regarding MacDonald signing with Bellator MMA, given that Bellator MMA President Scott Coker stated recently that negotiations with MacDonald were going well.

Now, FrontRowBrian has confirmed in addition to FloCombat, revealing that the UFC has declined to match Bellator’s offer to Rory MacDonald, thus making him a Bellator MMA fighter.

I confirmed UFC declined to match Bellator’s offer to Rory Mac. Rory Mac is a @bellatormma fighter. @FloCombat

— FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian) August 24, 2016

So far no word yet on when MacDonald will make his Bellator MMA debut.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available.