Following a TKO win over John Salter at Bellator 264, Gegard Mousasi (48-7-2) has reiterated his desire to try his hand at boxing.
The Salter win was the first title defense of Mousasi’s second middleweight reign in Bellator, and he already has his next opponent lined up: Austin Vanderford. The #2 ranked “Mr. VanZant” was on hand Friday night for the obligatory face-off to set up the fight, but Mousasi doesn’t appear to feel like the wrestler poses much of a threat.
“He’s gonna be a tough fight. He’s a wrestler, another guy. But if he takes me down, it’s not like he’s gonna hurt me,” Mousasi said during his post-fight press conference appearance backstage at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. “I’ve never been ground n’ pounded, never been seriously hurt in a fight. Well, I got hurt in the [Alexander] Shlemenko fight, but it’s not like he can take me down and do a lot of damage.”
To add insult to injury, Mousasi went on to admit that over the past few weeks, he struggled to remember Vanderford’s name. That, at least, is no longer the case.
“I now remember his name. I had difficulty these couple weeks, to remember it,” said Mousasi, adding that he knows Vanderford is going “to take me down, hold me.”
“I’m not worried about getting hurt. But he’s a tough challenge, so we face him. I’ll be ready for him,” Mousasi continued, before immediately adding “I dunno if it’s possible to do boxing, we’re on Showtime, right? So I have to talk to Scott [Coker] about the boxing fight. Not Jake Paul, everyone wants to fight Jake Paul, but I wouldn’t mind doing a boxing fight. Because I want to stay busy, I’m fighting once a year. I’m wasting my years, I’m not getting younger.”
In the build-up to Bellator 264, Mousasi had stated he was open to a boxing match with either of the Paul brothers, if they asked for it. Even if it’s not Jake Paul, Mousasi may have a chance: Bellator’s new home of Showtime is in the boxing business, after all. And Bellator President Scott Coker is far more lenient in allowing his athletes to compete elsewhere than nemesis Dana White is with fighters under contract to the UFC.
As for Friday’s title fight against John Salter, Mousasi was able to weather some early adversity, though he suggested it wasn’t as bad as it looked. “I stayed calm in the first round— I wasn’t slippery, he was still strong, so I didn’t take chances to get up right away,” he said in regards to Salter’s takedowns. “I could have, don’t get me wrong. I was physically, definitely the stronger guy, even though I look skinny.”
Watch the full Bellator 264 post-fight press conference with Gegard Mousasi above.
