Saad Awad secured the win at Bellator 193 Friday, and now looks ahead to what’s next.
Bellator 193 lightweight Saad Awad was successful in his co-main event scrap against J.J. Amrbose Friday night. The bout went the distance at the card in Temecula, California. With the win, Awad has won three straight, improving his record to 22–9. Following the bout, Awad addressed the media, with Cageside Press in attendence, to discuss his performance, and what comes next.
Awad, who was icing his left hand backstage, said that “I like to have fun, in the gym I always have fun. When I fight, I take it real serious, usually.” In the cage Friday, having hurt his hand in the first round, he was forced back to that gym mentality. “I hurt my hand in the first round, so I said ‘you know, I’ve gotta be versatile, and do what I do in the gym and have fun’ and once I started having fun, things started flowing.”
That flow helped win him the fight, but Ambrose was too tough to put away. “I always go for the knockout” he said, and pointed out that his opponent was a veteran on the MMA circuit. “When I first started fighting, he already had a name.” With Ambrose being a wily veteran, “I knew if I didn’t put him away early, I knew he was going to come shoot, he was going to grapple, he was going to strike, he was going to kickbox, it was going to be a full MMA fight.”
That’s exactly what it turned out to be. Awad admitted that “I faded a little bit in the third,” adding “and I told myself I was going to cruise a little bit, just so I don’t get caught in anything stupid, because I was kind of fighting handicapped a little bit. I could have did better, I thought I was better prepared, but he brought it.” Of course, hurting the hand early, given his game plan was to “stand behind my jab,” didn’t help.
Awad was vocal before the fight about being overlooked, and not getting promoted. When it comes to who is next, “I’ve been a little bit vocal but at the end of the day, they’re going to give me who they want.” The fighter, who had the sold-out venue behind him Friday, is more interested in where. “Israel — I would love to go visit Palestine and fight out there.
I would love to go over there and fight, make some friends out there and show them that we can fight and still be friends after.” Awad, who is of Palestinian descent, has never had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land, and that’s something he’d like to change.
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