“Very cocky individual. Not cocky in a good way, not the type of guy that you like, like somebody like Conor McGregor. Cocky street thug type of personality. Didn’t like it at all.”

Before the fight even started his opponent, Duane Johnson, was yelling things across the cage and kept it up during the fight.

“He was like ‘Oh you’re too green, you ain’t ready for this. I’m gonna put you out, I’m a mess you up’ all this other sh*t. A bunch of his friends, family, fans whatever you want to say were commenting on my pictures saying I’m going to regret this, saying that he’s going to do what Tony Johnson should have, he’s next level and all this other stuff. Him and his fans, they’re all like that.”

Rosta then told a story about when Johnson was found in an ice room in a compromising position after a fight in LFA.

“When he kept talking sh*t I said, ‘You’re going to end up face-down in vending machine room again butt naked with your girlfriend leaving you.’ Apparently in his LFA fight, one of my friends that trains at Factory X said they fought his teammate and the police found him face-down butt naked after one of his fights in the ice room. True story. I was on a podcast that’s teammates with his opponent. It happened, so. That’s a little content for you guys that you’re not used to hearing. I normally wouldn’t put that out there about my opponents but the way this cat was acting, I don’t really care.”

Rosta (6-0) defeated Johnson (6-3) via unanimous decision and made his next opponent choice quite clear.

“Mike Shipman. I want Mike Shipman. I know there’s the card in London in May. I would like a quick turn around if he’s ready to go in March. If not I know he’s over in London so the one that’s in U.K. I’d like to fight him on that card.”

Rosta walked out wearing a #50 Ryan Shazier Pittsburgh Steelers jersey. Shazier was a first round pick of the Steelers in 2014 out of Ohio State. A spinal injury in 2017 ended his career, but he has become a friend of Rosta’s.

“I’m good friends with Ryan Shazier. This is one of his game jerseys that he signed for me. He signed the back. I told him I’d wear it out to my next fight. Some states don’t allow you to walk out with stuff. Luckily Arizona does so I wore it out.”

Watch the full Bellator 273 post-fight press conference with Dalton Rosta above. More coverage from the event can be found below.

The post Bellator 273: Rosta Unbothered By Trash Talk, Wants Mike Shipman Next appeared first on Cageside Press.

Rosta (5-0) was supposed to face Romero Cotton but, for the third time, the fight fell through opening the door for a late replacement to step into the cage with the young prospect.

“We talked after my last fight about the rankings a little bit on the way to the interview. Obviously the media is in charge of those, they vote on it, and everything. I though for sure after my last fight, after beating Tony Johnson, I would have for sure been ranked above him. Then they put me in top 10, he was ranked still above me after that, and I was done with him after that. After he pulled out the first few times. Then I was asked about it and I was like, ‘You know what, I want the fight again.’ Just because he’s ranked above me I feel like I got something to prove. But then next thing you know he ends up accepting the fight after 8-9 months of silence just radio silence,” Rosta said in his media day scrum.

“Calling him out on Instagram, calling him out on Twitter, calling him out in interviews. Having Rich Chou and the matchmakers push for the fight and just straight silence. Nobody hearing back from the dude. And then finally he takes the fight, I was expecting him to pull out, I was hoping he didn’t but I was expecting it. I told my teammates, my friends, my manager, ‘I think he’s going to pull out.’ And then sure enough three weeks before the fight he pulled out. I don’t think it’s anything besides the fact that he’s scared. That he doesn’t want to actually fight. That should say enough.”

As far as Johnson (6-2) goes Rosta admitted he didn’t know much about his short notice opponent.

“I’ve honestly never heard of him before. And then I’d seen ‘Duane The Rock Johnson’ first thing. Talk about professional wrestling, first thing that comes across. But I knew nothing about him, I’ll be honest. He fought on the prelims on the Sergei Kharitonov and Cheick Kongo card. I watched that card, but I didn’t catch all the prelims. I don’t know what I was doing I usually try to catch them all. But I would have recognized his name had I seen his fight.”

“Whenever I looked him up I seen that fight. I seen he got a 64-second D’arce choke which is pretty impressive, but you know the quality of opponent isn’t what I was facing.”

As for what is next after Saturday night Rosta said he remains focused on Johnson, but does have opponents in mind for after.

“I am looking forward for fights with a couple people after this. That being Mike Shipman or Charlie Ward. They’re ranked 6th and 7th and 8th, whatever they are. I want to fight guys that are ranked above me. I don’t want to can-crush. It’s not who I am I’ve always taken the tough fights. I want to prove my worth, and that’s that.”

Watch the full Bellator 273 media day appearance by Dalton Rosta above. The event takes place this Saturday, January 29, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ.

The post Bellator 273’s Dalton Rosta Thinks Cotton Is Scared Of Fighting Him appeared first on Cageside Press.