Atlantic City — Undefeated Bellator MMA prospect Jordan Newman improved to 8-0 in PFL Atlantic City, making his debut for the Professional Fighters League. At least in name.
Technically Newman did fight on a Bellator Champions Series card last year, when the company was being run by the PFL. Now, Bellator has been folded into the PFL itself, but the result for Newman was the same. Another win, this time over Eslam Abdul Baset, who couldn’t continue past the first round.
“I’ve been fighting for a little bit now, I’m getting more and more confident with every win that I get,” Newman told media outlets including Cageside Press about the win, speaking post-fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. “And just landing some good strikes like that, finishing someone like that is obviously a good confidence booster for sure.”
From here, Newman is just looking to stay busy, and will be keeping his eye on the upcoming middleweight World Tournament final.
“I’m looking forward to getting my next fight. We’re going to kind of see how it goes with who wins, who doesn’t in the tournament, and see how that kind of shakes out. I think they’re fighting at the end of the month. So that should give me some good insight on who my next potential opponent would be.”
As for fighting at the Boardwalk Hall, one of the more famed arenas for combat sports in the U.S., “It’s a legendary, historic venue with some really historic, crazy fights that have gone down here,” noted Newman. “So it’s cool to just add to it, for sure.”
Jordan Newman also gave credit to UFC, Bellator, and ONE Championship star Ben Asken for helping him with his wrestling and top control over the years. As is well known by now, Askren recently was the recipient of a double lung transplant.
“Big shout out to Ben Askren, that dude’s my hero, that dude’s done a lot for me. I wouldn’t be here without him. So props to him for sure. And as you guys know he’s going through some health complications, so just pray for Ben, and I hope you all wish the best for him as well.”
Watch the full PFL Atlantic City post-fight press conference with Jordan Newman above.
