It’s been a long road to the top for John Salter. But at Bellator 264 on Friday night, the middleweight finally gets his shot at gold.
Anyone paying close attention to the Bellator middleweight division has felt that Salter’s shot has been coming for a while, something he acknowledged during this week’s Bellator 264 media day. “It’s been a long road. I’ve been fighting for a long time. I’ve had a lot of big fights,” he noted. “But it seems like I get a big fight, I win, then I end up fighting a lower ranked person, then people kind of forget about me. So I think this is one to really cement where I am in the world of MMA at 185.”
The journey has not always been smooth, though the Alabama native also pointed out that Bellator has been good to him. “There’s obviously days of frustration when you’re spending years working to get a title shot and nothing’s coming, but then again, it’s been a great experience. Bellator’s treated me really well,” said Salter. “I think it’s God’s timing, I think this is what it is, it’s the perfect time for me. It would have been great if it had happened earlier, but I don’t don’t think there could have been a better time for me than right now.”
Fighting Gegard Mousasi in particular was something of a challenge in training camp, said Salter. “It’s such a unique opponent that’s so hard to emulate, that I’ve got to have so many guys to bring in certain aspects of his game,” he explained. “Because there’s only one Gegard Mousasi in the world, so you can’t get a guy to come imitate him, you’ve just got to get people to mimic one thing he does to get used to that.”
Watch the full Bellator 264 media day virtual scrum with John Salter above! The event takes place this Friday, August 13 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.
