Peru’s Enrique Barzola returns to action, and to the bantamweight division, this Friday at Bellator 298 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
While his last fight, a win over Erik Perez, took Barzola up to featherweight (he has fought there before, and won The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 2 as a lightweight), he made the commitment to 135lbs a while back.
“I always fight like 145, it’s my division, right? But my coaches told me ‘you can be the next Bellator champion, but in another division, in 135.’ I changed my plan for my diet, I changed my plan mentally, my strategy,” Barzola (19-7-2) recalled, speaking to Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview.
The cut to bantamweight, “it’s like 28 pounds,” the UFC vet told us. And it was no easy feat making the drop initially. “The first and second time was very hard,” said Barzola, asked about shedding the weight, “but now I really feel good, because I have more experience for my diet, for everything. I have a good doctor for my nutrition.”
Barzola’s coaches have also adapted his training, alternating between hard weeks filled with pressure and cardio, and weeks with more comfortable, relaxed drills. “I feel good for this division, [and] now I’m training very technically, very smart.”
Barzola faces the up-and-coming Jaylon Bates this Friday, an undefeated standout who has spent the entirety of his career with Bellator MMA. Barolza sees it as a good fight for him, and specifically he sees weakness.
“Jaylon Bates is a young fighter. He’s never lost. He uses emotion to fight. He has seven wins on his record in Bellator. It’s good, a good fight for me,” said Barzola. “I think he’s very, very weak. He’s never fought [a guy] like me. I have more experience, I feel more strong. In that fight, I want to smash him. That’s it.”
Asked if the weakness he’s seen was physical or mental, Barzola explained that “Mentally he’s better every day. It’s normal, because he’s young. He’s never lost in his career. But his body is very weak. I think so.”
With that in mind, Barzola added that “I want to pressure the whole round,” when it comes to how he sees the fight playing out. “I want to smash the whole round. I want to look [for] like, a submission or ground n’ pound. I want to smash him with ground n’ pound or submission.”
Now a veteran of the sport, things have changed over the years for Enrique Barzola. These days, he’s been training with Umar Nurmagomedov, cousin of UFC legend Khabib. “Now I feel really very good. I’m ready for this fight. I feel hungry in my body, I feel hungry in my [mind]. I was working hard every day.”
If that hard works pays off against Bates, Barzola hopes it lands him another fight — in particular a rematch with Magomed Magomedov. The Russian bounced Barzola from Bellator’s bantamweight grand prix last year.
“If I win this fight, I would like to fight again maybe with Magomed Magomedov. This guy is a good fighter, I would like to fight with him again in the future. Maybe this year or next year. But I need to take revenge with him.”
Watch our full interview with Bellator 298’s Enrique Barzola above.
