{"id":223151,"date":"2017-02-15T09:30:56","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T17:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=223151"},"modified":"2017-02-15T09:30:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T17:30:56","slug":"former-two-division-wsof-champ-david-branch-signed-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/david-branch\/former-two-division-wsof-champ-david-branch-signed-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"Former two-division WSOF champ David Branch has signed with the UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this month, we learned that World Series of Fighting star David Branch\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/david-branch\/former-two-division-wsof-champ-david-branch-officially-free-agent\/\">had entered free agency<\/a>. Branch, who was the champion of both the WSOF light heavyweight and middleweight divisions, made this announcement on a recent episode of The MMA Hour.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI\u2019m officially a free agent,\u201d he said on the show. \u201cI\u2019m going to be looking to explore my opportunities on the outside of WSOF. And I think it was about time for me and the company to just split ways. There was some misunderstandings that happened, and as a result of those misunderstandings it was best for me to be released and stuff like that. Plus I just want to do other things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI think one of the big things that people \u2014 people and the media, and to myself, you know I\u2019m 35 years old right now and at the end of this whole fighting career, and I\u2019m a two-division champion and all that \u2014 but people will always say, \u2018well he didn\u2019t do it in the UFC.\u2019 Well you know, here\u2019s the deal. I\u2019m a free agent now. People have been saying for years that I\u2019m the best fighter on the outside of the UFC. I disagree. I believe that I\u2019m the best fighter in the world. And I think that now is my opportunity to be able to prove that.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just weeks into his free agency, Branch has now signed with the UFC. His new contract with the organization was confirmed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2017\/2\/15\/14624816\/david-branch-signs-with-ufc\" target=\"_blank\">MMAFighting.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Branch, of course, is not unfamiliar with the organization. He has fought in the Octagon four times before, defeating\u00a0Tomasz Drwal and Rich Attonito and losing to Gerald Harris and Rousimar Palhares. At the moment, the details of his return to the Octagon are not known, though we can expect him to join the middleweight roster, rather than the light heavyweight roster.<\/p>\n<p>As a WSOF fighter, he went 10-0, scoring notable wins over Jesse Taylor, Yushin Okami, Clifford Starks, Vinny Magalhaes and <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/world-series-of-fighting\/wsof-34-results-4-champions-retain-titles-new-york-city\/\">Louis Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you want David Branch to fight in his return to the Octagon? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 2\/15\/2017. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this month, we learned that World Series of Fighting star David Branch\u00a0had entered free agency. Branch, who was the champion of both the WSOF light heavyweight and middleweight divisions, made this announcement on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. \u201cI\u2019m officially a free agent,\u201d he said on the show. \u201cI\u2019m going to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":167072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[16706],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former two-division WSOF champ David Branch has signed with the UFC | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former World Series of Fighting middleweight and light heavyweight champion David Branch has signed a new contract with the UFC.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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