Ex-Bellator welterweight champ Lyman Good now officially a free agent

After four years, Bellator MMA’s first welterweight champion, Lyman Good, is leaving the promotion as a free agent.

Good’s legal rep, David M. Fish, announced the departure today.

“The entire team at Bellator has been really good to me throughout my career and now they’ve given me the green light to go and fight anywhere I want,” Good (15-3 MMA, 8-3 BFC) stated in a press release forwarded to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The 28-year-old Good was one of Bellator’s first stars in the promotion’s first events in 2009. He won the Season 1 welterweight tournament and inaugural welterweight title after three straight finishes.

His title reign would be cut short by Season 2 tourney winner Ben Askren, who handed him a decision loss in his first defense and remains champion. That led him to re-enlist in the Season 4 and Season 7 tournaments in hopes of winning a rematch.

Both times, he was halted by tournament champs, though he never was finished inside the Bellator cage. In his most recent appearance, he outpointed “The Ultimate Fighter 7? veteran Dante Rivera in a non-tourney bout.

Good, a native New Yorker who trains at Tiger Schulmann’s MMA, leaves the promotion with an 8-3 record. He didn’t rule out a return later in his career.

“I don’t know where I’ll end up next, but I’m going to keep fighting, and … maybe I’ll be back at Bellator at some point.”

Bellator has dealt with a pair of highly publicized free agents in the past 18 months or so. Former middleweight champ Hector Lombard left for the UFC and made his debut with the promotion nearly a year ago. He has gone 1-2 there with a pair of split-decision losses.

And the promotion currently is marred in a legal battle with former lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez.

(Pictured: Lyman Good)