South Dakota’s own Logan Storley will be fighting at home this Friday at Bellator 298, where he headlines a massive card at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
It’s an opportunity the former interim champ has come to relish, in a sport that requires sometimes gruelling travel to the other side of the country — or planet.
“Not many fighters get to go home and compete in their home state, especially Sioux Falls being two hours from my home town. Not many get the opportunity to get to fight so close to home,” Storley (14-2) told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “So I’ve learned to really enjoy it, it’s fun to have the crowd and my friends and family, compared to some of these fights where you’re going across the country, going across the world, or you’re a long way’s away. I really do enjoy fighting at home, and I’m excited to get back in there.”
Storley enters Friday’s main event against Brennan Ward looking to bounce back from a loss to Yaroslav Amosov in a title unification bout earlier this year. In terms of takeaways, it was the little things that Storley focused on.
“I think what you take away from it is just some small situations, small details. Put them back in your own game plan, where ever you needed to improve,” the former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler stated. “That’s about all you can do, is you’ve got to learn from it. There’s nothing else really to do from it. You want to get back in the situation to get your belt back.”
Having two losses to current welterweight champion Amosov leaves Logan Storley in a bit of a pinch. While Amosov losing his title would no doubt help “Storm” get back to the top, Storley is hoping he can make a case for a third fight with the Ukrainian.
“I’m ranked #1, beat all the guys in the top, pretty much all the top guys, fought ’em all. So I think for me, you’ve got to have dominant performances. You’ve got to go in there and showcase that you’re different,” Storley suggested. “Obviously, really for me I’ve got two losses to the same guy. One was a split decision, last one was a five round title fight, so for me that’s really the goal, is to go get that back, get that belt, and get rid of those losses. I just have to be dominant, have to show my skills and have to show where I’ve improved.”
While championship gold is the goal, Storley admits that avenging his losses to Amosov does matter. “That’s one I really do want back.”
“It’s just to prove it really for myself, is the main reason. Say if he wasn’t at Bellator anymore, vice versa, different organization, things like that, the main goal for almost every fighter is to become world champ. That’s why you do it. And then for a lot of guys, to get that loss back or beat that guy back— that’s the only losses on my record, to the same guy. It is important to me, but right now I’m focused on other things.”
Other things meaning primarily Brennan Ward. The match-up sees Storley fighting a fair bit down in the rankings. That, however, is a situation he understands, given the circumstances.
“It made sense, he’s coming off three good wins. Everybody else is kind of tied up, or I’ve fought them before. The top guys, I’ve all fought, and that’s kind of where we were left at,” noted Storley. “And I wanted to get back in there instead of sitting on the sidelines. If you don’t take this fight, then you’re going to sit and wait. I didn’t want to sit and wait for eight months, or almost a year, to fight again.”
Looking to get his run going again, Storley signed off on the fight. “For me it made sense, and that’s what Bellator had. And I was excited to take it, and go get a dominant win.”
Watch our full interview with Bellator 298 headliner Logan Storley above.
