Bellator president Scott Coker was completely happy to depart Saturday’s Bellator MMA vs. RIZIN occasion with a clear sweep, and says he would award his Most Beneficial Participant to the person who capped off the undefeated run.
In the primary occasion, A.J. McKee defeated Roberto de Souza through unanimous choice to shut out the 5-0 run for Bellator towards RIZIN on the Saitama Tremendous Enviornment in Japan.
Whereas Patricio Pitbull, Kyoji Horiguchi, Juan Archuleta, and Gadzhi Rabadanov additionally earned choice wins for Staff Bellator, Coker was requested who he would give the MVP award to throughout his post-fight press convention.
“I believe I might need to offer it to A.J. McKee,” Coker stated to reporters following the occasion. “I assumed he was in some harmful conditions, he obtained out of them, he did what he needed to do to win, and I believe he had a fantastic efficiency.
“Once you have a look at de Souza, that man is a harmful fighter. He would undoubtedly get ranked top-10 on this planet from this efficiency, and that was very, very anxious to look at as a result of I assumed a few occasions he may’ve been in huge bother.”
McKee confirmed no concern of de Souza’s unbelievable floor sport all through the 15 minute battle and located himself in some very robust spots within the remaining spherical earlier than attending to the bell to complete off the win — his second straight since shifting as much as 155 from the featherweight division.
Coker was impressed by the RIZIN opponents that represented their promotion, which was a giant motive why he was fairly glad getting out of Japan with 5 victories.
“I all the time stated my want was to go 5-0 and I’m completely happy that my guys gained,” Coker stated. “To me, it was very aggressive on the market.
“For our fighters to come back right here to compete in a special equipment, completely different guidelines, completely different setting, completely different timeframe, I’m pleased with them as a result of it’s not a simple factor to do. These guys obtained right here 10 days in the past, earlier than Christmastime, and so they stated, ‘We’re going to surrender our Christmas, we’re going to come back to Japan early,’ and so they’ve been coaching right here the final 10 days. They did it correctly.
“I informed them, ‘Look, don’t take these fighters flippantly as a result of they’re superb.’ I believe they took that to coronary heart and so they did what they needed to do.”
