Jaylon Bates wants to get paid before fighting a top 10 opponent.
MMA fighters are prizefighters. There is no denying that. 25-year old Bates is a prizefighter and wants to be treated as such, especially if it means fighting top 10 opponents.
Bates (4-0) returns to the Bellator cage for his fifth fight this weekend at Bellator 274, where he fights Chris Disonell. The bantamweight known as “New Breed” is riding a three-fight finish streak and looks to continue that. If you’re looking for his first knockout in the promotion, think again because he says that will cost the promotion.
“Everyone has been asking me, ‘Jaylon, when are you going to knock someone out?’ It’s no secret that fans want knockouts, and I understand that. But until I start seeing some chicken from knockouts, you know, maybe a knockout bonus or just a backstage check, I’m fine doing what I’m doing. Sh*t, if I see some extra money, I will knock motherf*ckers out cold,” Bates told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview. “Honestly, I’m going to go out there on Saturday, and whatever God blesses me with, that will happen— if it’s a knockout fine, if not, whatever. I don’t force anything. Just know that I don’t like to fight for 15 minutes; I like to get in there and get out; that’s what I’m going to do.”
Looking forward in 2022, Bates wants to fight four times. He likes the way Bellator is moving with his career, but if they want him to fight a top 10 bantamweight, they are going to have to pay him.
“As long as the chicken is right. I was offered someone in the top 10 last year in September, but I’m going to be honest, I turned it down. If I’m going to be fighting top 10 guys, I want to be paid like a top 10 guy. Right now, I’m not being paid that way, and that’s okay. I’m chilling; I’ll keep knocking these lower guys off,” Bates said. “I’m fighting for myself right now because I don’t have any children, and I don’t have a girlfriend. But I’m also fighting for the love of it and because there is a lifestyle that I want to have. There are investments that I want to make and things I want to do.”
“With the guidance of Antonio McKee, who I trust, I believe I will achieve great things. He’s knowledgeable in the sport of what not to do, what to do, and how to be patient. That’s what I’m doing right now, being patient. I’m making the right decisions with my career, and my coach is guiding me.”
Jaylon Bates fights Chris Disonell this Saturday at Bellator 274 on the preliminary card, which can be seen on Bellator’s Youtube channel and right here on Cageside Press.
