Raufeon Stots earned his second straight win inside the Bellator cage on Friday. Submitting the previously undefeated Cass Bell by rear-naked choke in the third round at Bellator 242, the bantamweight continued his steady progress up the 135lb ladder.
That climb has included six straight wins overall, with three under the LFA banner prior to Stots joining Bellator.
Speaking to his success on Friday night, Stots told Cageside Press post-fight that “this quarantine has helped me out a lot mentally. I feel like I’m mentally dialed in now. I had to do things in quarantine because I couldn’t work out as hard, and that’s translated over to my training, to my everyday life, and I feel like it’s really coming to reality.”
Getting the win over a previously undefeated prospect, “it feels good,” Stots told us. “Somebody’s 0 had to go. He hadn’t tasted defeat, and all his fights had been in Bellator.”
Stots himself is 14-1 now, and it feels like he’s starting to get noticed. “A lot of people know that I’m a dangerous threat. I’m starting to see that more and more, as people deny fights with me, as people duck and dodge me,” he suggested. “And in how I perform. I’m really coming into my own, it’s really fun for me.”
“People are definitely noticing. I noticed a lot of eyes that were watching that match-up, especially in the bantamweight division,” he added. “Which is a killer division. So many great guys in this division. I’m excited to get a win over a guy considered to be in the elite of Bellator.”
As to what comes next, there was one name on Stots’ mind, Patrick Mix. Although he’s open to any fighter that will boost him up the ladder.
“I have no disrespect to the guy, and I don’t know what his team or whatever is doing, but I feel like I was supposed to fight Patchy Mix,” said Stots. “I got offered a contract, and that’s why it took me a while [to sign] for Cass Bell. Because I got offered a contract for Patchy Mix. But somebody on his team said no. I ain’t calling him a b*tch, but I’m calling somebody over there… they said no to me. And this is a second time.”
“I’m ready to spin my legacy, and if you gonna be in the way, you either need to move over, or find something else to do,” Stots added.
Stots may be on to something when it comes to fighters avoiding him. With Mix lined up with Juan Archuleta from the looks of things, he made a play to land a fight with James Gallagher. “The StrabAnimal” declined.
Watch the full Bellator 242 post-fight press scrum with Raufeon Stots above.
