Temecula, CA — You can’t always fight at home, and Bellator’s Ilima-Lei Macfarlane understands that. Which is why she has no problem defending her women’s flyweight title in San Jose, rather than holding out for a second fight in Hawaii.

Of course, Macfarlane headlined Bellator: Hawaii in December, picking up the biggest win of her career to date against Valerie Letourneau. But there’s no letdown following up Bellator Hawaii with a fight in California, Ilima-Lei told media outlets backstage at Bellator 219 over the weekend. “Obviously, Bellator Hawaii was beyond my wildest dreams, it was the perfect fairy tale story and everything. But San Jose is a completely different fight, a different scene, a different walkout — of course my walkout’s going to be bomb.” Spoiler: the theme of her next walkout will be water, and Hawaiian waves.

With San Jose, Macfarlane is excited for a different vibe, and to face opponent Veta Arteaga. “I was totally not surprised when it was announced. I thought Veta — she’s been on a rip right now, she’s been performing. So I was actually expecting to get Veta.”

“It’s interesting, because of course I’m nervous before all my fights. I was especially nervous for the Valerie fight,” ‘The Iliminator’ added. “And you know with Veta, I’m just excited, and not because I’m overlooking her or anything. I just think it’s going to be an exciting fight.”

“Of course, I’ll probably get nervous as the day gets closer, but right now, I’m just so pumped, I’m ready to go.”

At this point in her career, Macfarlane said, she has nothing to prove, which might make the excitement come easier. She simply plans on fighting smart, not playing into Arteaga’s hand. “I don’t feel like I need to stand and brawl with a brawler.”

As Macfarlane has moved from prospect to star for Bellator, she’s been more and more in the spotlight, recruited for ads, and other projects outside MMA. But the coolest part of the experience, for the champ, has been sharing her personal life.

“I really like sharing my personal life. I think people appreciate that, that I’m pretty authentic via social media,” she told Cageside Press over the weekend. “That’s kind of what everybody sees. I like that fact that I do let people into my life, and see what it’s like. I’m not just always posting ads or ‘my life’s so great!’ on social media. I think that’s what people see and what people have liked so far.”

So with that in mind, “I’m going to keep being real, being me.”

Watch the full press scrum with Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, backstage at Bellator 219, above!

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Temecula, CA — A collegiate wrestler who missed out on NCAA action due to injury. A boxer, and successful amateur mixed martial artist. Dalton Rosta is one of those fighters Bellator seems to have a knack for finding: a young prospect with little experience, but a lot of upside.

With a pro record of 0-0 when he signed with Bellator earlier this year, Rosta didn’t have a huge following in the sport. What he had was potential. He started the journey to fulfilling that at Bellator 219 over the weekend.

Going in, the light heavyweight was making his pro debut. Coming out of the event, he’s 1-0. It wasn’t quite the way he wanted it, with opponent Cody Vidal going down to a knee injury. Still, said Rosta post-fight, it “feels great. I knew I was going to come here and win.”

Speaking to media members including Cageside Press, he continued by saying that “the goal was a first round finish. I got that. I guess he got a knee injury. I hope he’s alright. Hope that heals up well. Ultimately, I came in here and did what I was supposed to do.”

What he was supposed to do was win. He did little else during his amateur days. Which helped him get past any jitters. “The only nerves I had, it wasn’t being under the Bellator banner, it was being the first to fight,” he explained. “Through all my boxing matches, through all my MMA fights, through all my wrestling matches, I’d never competed first. That’s where any nerves and any pressure came from. But I overcame that.”

In fact there was really only one hiccup. “I felt in a rhythm, I warmed up really well, I felt great walking to the cage actually,” Rosta said. However, when it came time to fight, “I was kind of mad, I felt like they came and got me a little early, because when we got down here, I cooled off a little bit. And I was wearing my sweats and everything. I wish I didn’t.”

Once he did get in the cage, “once the spotlight was on me, everything hit me. I’ve been here since Tuesday, I signed back in January, and it didn’t actually hit until I got into the cage. But it felt great.”

With his career as a Bellator fighter official, Rosta doesn’t want to waste much time. “I want to fight again as soon as possible. I see they have a card in May. May or June, that’s how soon I want to be back in the cage.”

https://twitter.com/DamianJTrott/status/1112017333130809345

In fact, the only real negative over the weekend? Southwest cancelled his flight home!

https://twitter.com/2oofast/status/1112372397607288832

The post Bellator 219: Dalton Rosta Reflects on Debut Win, Says Nerves Were At a Minimum appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — “Sucks.” That’s how Saad Awad summed up the feeling coming out of his main event loss to Brandon Girtz at Bellator 219. That’s a bit of an understatement, actually. It’s not fun to lose at anything, but you don’t walk out of a game of monopoly battered and bruised. Unless you come from a particularly competitive family.

Fighting, that’s a whole different ballgame. Awad was showing his battle scars after the bout, but still made his way back stage to speak with media members including Cageside Press following the main event.

“I don’t think there’s an explanation you can give when you lose a fight, especially one like that,” he added. “I fight the way I fight. He caught me with a couple of them, I didn’t see them coming.  I think that made all the difference. I think if I had somehow stayed on my feet, I think that would have rendered the judges decision.”

Awad suggested that being dropped (as he was in the first round) put him in a spot where he had to battle back from possible 10-8s. Overall, he feels the fight could have gone either way. Though the lightweight took umbrage with one judge.

“The 30-27 judge’s scorecard, I don’t know where the hell that was,” he exclaimed. “So whoever that was, they need to be fired.” Not mincing words, he declared “that’s f*cked up. It could have went either way, but when you have a judge like that, it’s f*cked up to the sport.”

In the third, when he was covering up with Girtz landing ground n’ pound, Awad said that “I thought the ref was going to stop it, because it was in the back of the head.” He admitted that “he did have control, I couldn’t get up, I’ll be honest with you, but at the same time, I was getting punched in the back of the head.” However, the ref let it slide, and the outcome was a unanimous decision win for Girtz.

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Saad Awad above!

The post Bellator 219: Saad Awad Feels Fight with Girtz Could Have Gone Either Way, Livid With One Judge appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — Andrey Koreshkov was expecting to fight Lorenz Larkin in the main event of Bellator 219 over the weekend. It didn’t happen. Larkin pulled out due to injury, and the former Bellator champ, Koreshkov, found himself lower down the card. Against little known Mike Jasper, stepping in on short notice. The Russian welterweight still picked up the win, mind you.

That said, the fight didn’t go exactly as expected. “Obviously my opponent really studied my previous fights,” Koreshkov told media outlets including Cageside Press via translator following the fight. “So he was ready. He was moving well, he was unorthodox.”

That gave the former champion some trouble. Plus, Jasper “was taking punches, but he was taking them really well. He was always trying to counter-attack, counter-punch me. So unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish the fight the way I wanted to.” That, Koreshkov said, was due to the toughness of Jasper.

Koreshkov admitted that he wasn’t able to find any recent tape on Jasper, which didn’t help matters. Instead, the most recent footage he came across was from 2016. On the positive side, “three rounds of fighting is good experience for me,” he added.

So what comes next for the ex-champ? “Most definitely the Lorenz Larkin fight is one of the fights that I’m really looking forward to. I think this fight would be great. Also there are many other exciting and strong guys, like Erick Silva and others.”

Koreshkov would like a short break, but after that, either of those names would be suitable.

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Andrey Koreshkov above!

The post Bellator 219: Andrey Koreshkov Still Interested in Lorenz Larkin, Erick Silva Also An Option appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — While you never get a second chance to make a first impression, Joe Schilling’s most recent run in MMA is certainly making up for earlier efforts. After false starts in 2008 and 2014-15, Schilling’s return over the past six months has seen him go 2-0. It’s worth noting he was thrown to the wolves just a little previously, having fought Tony Ferguson, Melvin Manhoeff, Rafael Carvalho, and Hisaki Kato in earlier runs. That’s what happens when you’re a world class kickboxer.

This time, Schilling is taking his time to develop as a mixed martial artist, taking measured steps and going all in on the sport. And the results are showing, with a three-round unanimous decision win at Bellator 219 over Keith Berry being the most recent example.

“It was a f*cking tiring fight. I made some mistakes, and I was kind of beating myself up about them during the fight,” he told reporters including Cageside Press about his most recent outing. “I’m still not used to being on my back, and there was quite a few times where I was on my back for an long period of time.” Or so it seemed to him in the heat of the moment. “At least in my mind it was a long period of time, waiting for the ref to stand us up, waiting to see what was going on. So I didn’t really know how close it was. Obviously he was bleeding all over the place, but I didn’t know how they were going to score it.”

Schilling didn’t realize until the scores were read that it was a good performance.

There was some stuff I know I could do better,” he admitted. But at the same time, he’s happy with his progress. And took umbrage with an interview Keith Berry did ahead of the fight. “I watched an interview Keith Berry had done this week with somebody,” he recalled. “He said something along the lines of ‘you know, I think Joe’s on the way out, it’s towards the end of Joe’s career and this is his opportunity to snatch the spotlight’ or some sh*t like that.”

“I just think man, what a dumb thing to say,” came Schilling’s reaction. Rather than on his way out, Schilling said that “I’m in a growing phase of my career right now. I’m doing a new sport. I think that I’m improving a lot. I think it’s pretty undeniable that I’m going to be a force to be reckoned with real soon.”

With his elite level striking, a well rounded Joe Schilling could be a scary prospect for Bellator’s middleweight division.

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Joe Schilling above!

The post Bellator 219: Joe Schilling Expects to Be A Force to Be Reckoned With in MMA Soon appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — Mark another one in the win column for Joey Davis. One of the hot prospects out of Team Bodyshop under coach Antonio McKee, Davis improved to 5-0 at Bellator 219 on Friday at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California. It was a big night for Davis: he recently finished his college education, and hasn’t even made the walk to receive his degree just yet. Through five pro fights, all with Bellator MMA, he juggled his education and other pressures.

So this win, in a way, marked the start of a new era for Davis. He gave full credit to his team, and god, post-fight, speaking to media members including Cageside Press. “If it wasn’t for my team, I would not have been successful in this fight, and I guarantee that,” he said back stage. “Just with me finishing school and everything, I was under a lot of stress, a lot of other circumstances. But with a team it brings you together, with your coach he just builds you stronger, and I’m just thankful. I’m thankful I got the win for my team.”

Davis looked loose in the cage. Certainly the most relaxed we’ve seen him thus far in his young career. “I was just having fun,” he admitted. “Honestly, my cousin A.J. told me, ‘do everything we’ve been working towards. You put all the hard work in, now it’s time to celebrate.'”

His way to celebrate was in the cage, “by doing my dances, moving around like I do. I was doing kicks this time, normally out of all my fights, I didn’t do no kicks. So I was just moving around in there, just enjoying the moment as much as I can.”

He even noticed opponent Marcus Anthony smiling, indicating they were both having fun. Anthony likely wasn’t having much fun by the end of the round, however. That’s when Davis knocked him out. On the knockout, it was simple: “Something opened up.”

The big question after a win like that is always what comes next. Or who comes next. “I’m absolutely not worried about a human being,” Davis explained. “I’m worried about these checks. I need this money bad. I ain’t worried about another person, because at the end of the day, I have the best skills on the planet I feel.”

That’s something Davis was open about heading into the fight. He said the same to Cageside Press little over a week ago. The championship will come, he said at the time. But I’m in it for the money.

He reiterated that on Friday night. “I will be successful. I’m here for the money.”

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Joey Davis above!

The post Finishing School While Prepping for a Fight, Joey Davis Credits Bellator 219 Win to Team appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — The feel-good story of Bellator 219 was no doubt the return of Daniel Straus. Win or lose, just stepping back inside the Bellator cage was a victory. Straus had been out over a year due to a serious motorcycle accident. The fighter had been left unable to walk, endured months and months of physical therapy, and was at real risk of never fighting again.

So stepping in the cage against Shane Kruchten on Friday at the Pechanga Casino and Resort was a win in itself. The icing on the cake was that yes, Straus won his first bout since 2017.

“It’s unique. It’s different. It’s special,” he told reporters including Cageside Press about the win. “Special for me, special for my team, special for everybody that’s helped me get here. It’s been a road. I’m thankful, grateful.”

Consistently leading up to Bellator 219, Straus, a former featherweight champion in the promotion, said that he was coming in at about 70% of his former self. His recovery was not complete. But he simply couldn’t put his return off any longer.

He reiterated that post-fight Friday, saying “I still got a whole lot of work to do. I’m not 100%. I’ve been telling you this for a while. Just because I’m here doesn’t mean I’m at the top of the game. I feel good, I get to continue to grow, continue to showcase my skills, and get back to what I want to do.”

Still, step one complete. The nerves were there, of course. “It’s been a little different. I’ve always had nerves, I’ve always had ups and downs,” he said. “I knew it was going to be emotional. Kind of tried to throw it in the back of my mind, walked in there, and just get to what we got to do. We can cry, scream, yell all afterwards. That’s what I’m going to do afterwards.”

As for his performance, despite what many would see as a huge feat, Straus admitted that “I wasn’t happy. Not at all.”

“You can win, but it doesn’t make it a great win,” he added. “There was a lot of things I wanted to clean up. There’s a lot of things I see now that I can improve on.”

“That’s just me being hard on myself, somebody else can say I did alright or whatever, but I feel like it could be done a lot better,” he pointed out.

In any case, the plan from here is to just continue. “I continue to fight. If they call me tomorrow, let’s fight. I’ve always been that person. Lightweight, featherweight, middleweight, whatever. Bantam, whatever. I’ve always been that person. Put the contract in front of me, I sign it, I fight.” The process, he said, is block by block. “Like my coach says, we got to get 1% better every day. Every day. That’s all I’m going to continue doing.”

When the weight class question was brought up again, Straus stated that he has “a long-standing history with some of the guys at featherweight. That’s definitely where I feel like I belong, and I’ve always belonged.” But having said that, he started out at lightweight, “so it’s not something I’m not familiar with.”

Who does he want to fight? Well that’s simple. “All of ’em.” With the goal of reclaiming his title by the end of 2019.

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Daniel Straus above.

The post Bellator 219: Who Does Daniel Straus Want Next? “All Of ‘Em” appeared first on Cageside Press.

Temecula, CA — In a main event that was an absolute barn burner, Brandon Girtz got the better of Saad Awad Friday night at Bellator 219. Girtz, a training partner of Justin Gaethje (fighting Saturday at UFC Philadelphia), was swinging for the fences throughout the fight. At least twice, he seemed close to finishing. But the resilient Awad managed to recover and escape on both occasions. And far from a one-sided fight, Awad gave plenty back to Girtz, who was showing his battle scars, so to speak, after the bout.

Not to worry though. As he told media members including Cageside Press post fight at the Pechanga Casino and Resort, “When you win, everything hurts a lot less. Let’s just put it that way.”

Breaking down the bout, Girtz said that “I knew what I was getting with him. I was excited at the beginning, because I thought I put him out right away. I looked at him, he did go out, he came right back. And I was like ‘aww sh*t, this is going to be a fight.'”

It absolutely was. And Brandon Girtz wouldn’t have it any other way. “That’s what I do. I come to fight,” he said. “Put somebody like a Saad in front of me, you’re gonna see a fight. I’m not going to quit. When I get hit, I come back harder.”

In his mind, there was never really any doubt that he’d won the contest. “I thought I was for sure landing the harder shots. He went down twice. Three times.” Yet Girtz had high praise for his opponent, adding that “the guy’s an animal. He doesn’t stop coming.”

Of course, going to the judges is always a dicey prospect. While Girtz thought that “for sure I won the fight,” he later admitted that “you never know when it goes to the judges. I don’t want to, I thought ‘are these guys going to screw me?’ That’s going to go through your head, I’ve had it happen before. That’s why you see me, every time I’m throwing, I’m throwing to end the fight.”

Girtz did believe the fight might be stopped in the third. Especially after coming close in the first. “I thought he was done again, you know, and he just came back. He’s a damn warrior.” Girtz credited Awad for moving out of the position, admitting that he just couldn’t hold his opponent down at that point.

In the end, however, all three judges saw the fight for Girtz, leaving little question about the victor. Now, it’s on to the next one. Hopefully soon, though he did mention a slight knee injury that will need to be checked out.

As to what comes next, well, “I haven’t really thought past Awad, I’m not going to lie,” said Girtz. “He was the only guy I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been out a year. The roster changes, the top names change. I had him in my sights, and I have Chandler in my sights. I’m not saying Chandler’s next. I know I gotta go out there and put another one of these on, and hopefully knock somebody out next.”

“I got nobody in mind. I just want a top guy, I want someone that wants to fight.”

Watch the full Bellator 219 post-fight press scrum with Brandon Girtz above!

The post Bellator 219’s Brandon Girtz: When You Win, Everything Hurts A Lot Less appeared first on Cageside Press.

Heading into Bellator 219 Friday night in Temecula, CA, the main event could be summed up in one word: explosive. Saad Awad and Brandon Girtz were two fighters with plenty of mutual respect between them. Yet neither was expected to back down when they met in the cage on Friday. Whether someone would walk away with the finish was the question. Both fighters told Cageside Press ahead of the fight that they were most certainly looking for it.

After the glove touch, the pair faced off at center, neither wanting to step back. Awad did, when Girtz closed the distance launching overhands. But Awad came right back on the attack. Then it was Girtz’s turn, and this time, he connected. Awad was under fire, eating some heavy blows! Soon Saad Awad was down, and Brandon Girtz was on top. He tried to step over, but Awad managed to scramble free. Next it was Awad’s turn to go on the attack. Girtz covered up, backed up for a moment, then came storming back, swinging again! The fight wasn’t half over, and it was already crazy.

Of course, that pace was going to be hard to keep up. Awad mixed things up with some kicks, then lunged forward again, but missed. Girtz’s heavy overhands were still lightning quick, but he was hitting air. Awad continued to attack with kicks, and added a jumping knee before the round came to a close, and a final front kick.

Both men were battered, but still standing. Round two saw Awad backing Girtz up with his kicks once again. While Girtz had the edge in power, Awad was the more versatile fighter. Yet it was Girtz wobbling Awad again in the second, only for him to scramble away from harm. Another big right hand landed for Girtz moments later, and Awad turned and escaped. He came back, landing a jab in an exchange. Girtz continued to swing away. Awad fired a knee, ate a punch, and it was pandemonium once again.

Later in the round, Girtz went to the body with a kick. Awad was still keeping him on the outside as best he could. Another exchange with less than thirty seconds to go in the round saw both men land, and they’d head to a third.

We're going back & forth in this this third and final round between @BrandonGirtzMMA and @SAADMMA.#Bellator219 pic.twitter.com/TcchR5tayM

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) March 30, 2019

The third and final round of the Bellator 219 main event had Awad and Girtz continue to trade, continue to stand toe-to-toe. However, at the mid-way mark, Awad shot for a leg, only to wind up covering up as Girtz rained down hard punches. The ref was right on it, but warning Girtz for hitting the back of the head, he missed Girtz holding the shorts, for an extended amount of time. That allowed him to better control Awad, but Awad survived, and made it back to his feet. Awad then raised his arms, gesturing Girtz to keep bringing it in a fight where both men had done just that! Awad rocked Girtz in the final seconds with some stand and bang, but they went to the bell!

No losers in that one — a fantastic end to the night at Bellator 219.

Brandon Girtz def. Saad Awad by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

The post Bellator 219 Results: Brandon Girtz and Saad Awad Put On a Thriller appeared first on Cageside Press.

Former Bellator featherweight champion Daniel Straus was fighting for the first time since 2017 on Friday at Bellator 219 in Temecula, CA. Injury, in this case, was an understatement. Straus was involved in a motorcycle crash that left him unable to walk. Having to relearn to most basic of motor skills, Straus battled back to a point where he felt fit to step into the cage.

At 70% of what he was, Straus said ahead of the fight. Welcoming him back was Shane Kruchten — would 70% be enough?

Plenty of grappling early on in the Bellator 219 co-main event, with Kruchten eventually getting control and pressing Straus into the cage while landing knees. However, Straus turned the tables shortly after, got the fight to the ground, and came close to getting to mount until Kruchten slipped free.

A big left hand later in the round stunned Kruchten, however. That sweeping left hook sent Shane Kruchten sailing. Straus followed up with blow after blow, and when Kruchten wouldn’t go out, Straus took the back. Slipping in a choke, actually more across the jaw, he forced the tap!

💪😳@DanielStraus is victorious in his return to the Bellator cage tonight at #Bellator219. pic.twitter.com/1lMoEvmIci

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) March 30, 2019

An emotional Daniel Straus celebrated with his daughter in the cage after the fight, and spoke of how hard he’d been working on coming back. On the finish, Straus said he “just wanted to get him out of here as soon as possible.”

“Just looking to build. Keep doing it, get back to that belt” Straus said when asked what comes next.

Daniel Straus def. Shane Kruchten by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:53

The post Bellator 219 Results: Daniel Straus Victorious in Return, Submits Shane Kruchten appeared first on Cageside Press.