A protege of Chael Sonnen and undefeated in his career, heavyweight Tyrell Fortune feels he’s right at the coattails of Bellator’s top big men following Bellator 201.
Bellator 201’s Tyrell Fortune picked up another victory Friday night in Temecula, CA. That in and of itself wasn’t surprising. Fortune was a heavy favorite over opponent Giovanni Sarran, who was making his promotional debut in the fight. The key, however, is not that Fortune is winning the fights he’s supposed to win. It’s that he’s winning them with apparent ease.
Fortune addressed the win following Bellator 201, telling the assembled media that “I thought it was good, obviously I got the win so that’s most important.”
“I feel like at the beginning of the first round, I kind of punched myself out a little bit in those positions,” Fortune said. “So I should have went for more control and got into a dominant position before I looked for the finish. It’s just, when you’re in that position and you hear the ref telling the guy ‘move and advance’ then you know ‘okay, if I pick it up a little bit, I might be able to get the finish.’ So that’s kind of what happened.”
His coaches warned him to calm down, but hearing the ref warn Sarran ‘I’m about to stop it, I’m stop to stop it’ was too tempting. “Then you look for the finish,” he said.
Overall, “I think I got a little too punch drunk in the first round. I’ve just got to calm down and get a better, dominant position.” He’d later add that his coaches warned him not to take Sarran too lightly. The stocky heavyweight took the fight on five days notice, and certainly had the element of surprise.
With the win, Fortune improved to 5-0 in Bellator MMA. That’s one of the best winning streaks in the division. And he feels it puts him just behind some of the big names in the Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix. “Not too far,” is how he put it. “I feel like I’m on their coattail, really. I just got to get more of my experience on my feet. Then everything else will speak for itself.”
With wrestling that he points out “is at a whole different level than any of those guys in the tournament,” Fortune’s time may be coming very, very soon.
