Phoenix, AZ – Bellator middleweight Dalton Rosta wasn’t bothered by a late-replacement opponent for his fight at Bellator 273, and he wasn’t bothered by the trash talk that started right before the bell even rang.
“Very cocky individual. Not cocky in a good way, not the type of guy that you like, like somebody like Conor McGregor. Cocky street thug type of personality. Didn’t like it at all.”
Before the fight even started his opponent, Duane Johnson, was yelling things across the cage and kept it up during the fight.
“He was like ‘Oh you’re too green, you ain’t ready for this. I’m gonna put you out, I’m a mess you up’ all this other sh*t. A bunch of his friends, family, fans whatever you want to say were commenting on my pictures saying I’m going to regret this, saying that he’s going to do what Tony Johnson should have, he’s next level and all this other stuff. Him and his fans, they’re all like that.”
Rosta then told a story about when Johnson was found in an ice room in a compromising position after a fight in LFA.
“When he kept talking sh*t I said, ‘You’re going to end up face-down in vending machine room again butt naked with your girlfriend leaving you.’ Apparently in his LFA fight, one of my friends that trains at Factory X said they fought his teammate and the police found him face-down butt naked after one of his fights in the ice room. True story. I was on a podcast that’s teammates with his opponent. It happened, so. That’s a little content for you guys that you’re not used to hearing. I normally wouldn’t put that out there about my opponents but the way this cat was acting, I don’t really care.”
Rosta (6-0) defeated Johnson (6-3) via unanimous decision and made his next opponent choice quite clear.
“Mike Shipman. I want Mike Shipman. I know there’s the card in London in May. I would like a quick turn around if he’s ready to go in March. If not I know he’s over in London so the one that’s in U.K. I’d like to fight him on that card.”
Rosta walked out wearing a #50 Ryan Shazier Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. Shazier was a first round pick of the Steelers in 2014 out of Ohio State. A spinal injury in 2017 ended his career, but he has become a friend of Rosta’s.
“I’m good friends with Ryan Shazier. This is one of his game jerseys that he signed for me. He signed the back. I told him I’d wear it out to my next fight. Some states don’t allow you to walk out with stuff. Luckily Arizona does so I wore it out.”
Watch the full Bellator 273 post-fight press conference with Dalton Rosta above. More coverage from the event can be found below.
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