Dalton Rosta made it to 4-0 Thursday at Bellator 250. He did not, however, get the finish he’d been looking for.
On his first contract with the promotion, Rosta had set a goal: five fights, five finishes, before the contract was up. And while he came just short, it’s hard to find fault in anyone starting their career at 4-0. Especially as dominant as Rosta has been.
“I wish I would have got the finish. I wasn’t expecting an easy fight or anything. I was expecting it to be tough,” he told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “But I was expecting to finish it by the second round. I felt I could have done that with a rear-naked choke, but my arms got a little tired, a little pumped out trying to control him on bottom and stuff.”
Rosta then took issue with critics (including our own Shawn Bitter in his Weekly MMA Prospect Report) for highlighting his cardio as an area of concern. Of course, not having gone the distance in his career until Thursday, including during his amateur run, there was valid reason to question the hulking fighter’s gas tank. But he did put those concerns to rest, unequivocally, in a main-card worthy performance.
Which, it’s worth noting, the fight became rather last minute. Rosta vs. Gwerder was promoted to the three-fight main card on short notice, after Veta Arteaga was forced out of her fight with Desiree Yanez due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Moving forward, things could get interesting for Rosta. He’s settled in at middleweight, although he told Cageside Press Thursday that he would go back up to light heavyweight for the right opponent, if Bellator was paying. But regardless of weight class, he needs to ink a new deal with the promotion.
“My contract’s up next month. So I don’t believe I’m going to get the full five fights on my contract,” he said. “It was a 20-month contract, and that ends November 29. So we’re probably just going to be renegotiating at this point.”
Watch the full Bellator 250 post-fight press conference with Dalton Rosta above.
