Sabah Homasi realized quite a lot of laborious classes throughout his brief stint within the UFC, however these experiences made him the must-see fighter he’s at this time.
Homasi faces Brennan Ward on Saturday at Bellator 290, which takes place on the Kia Discussion board in Inglewood, Calif. The welterweight tilt serves as the primary Bellator battle to happen on CBS community tv.
The 34-year-old went winless in three fights contained in the UFC’s octagon between August 2016 and January 2018 earlier than being launched. Now on the brink of compete for the eighth straight time in Bellator, Homasi has seen the distinction in not solely himself as a fighter, but additionally between life as a Bellator fighter in comparison with a UFC fighter.
“I at all times knew I had the talent set, but it surely was at all times a psychological problem for me,” Homasi advised MMA Preventing. “Beneath these vivid lights, it will simply be totally different. Now, I’ve turn into one with that. I understand how to deal with the stress and the pressures going into it. Mentally, I feel everybody matures in that manner at totally different occasions. I do know fighters, or athletes usually, everybody blooms at a special time. Everybody has their very own clock.
“There’s no stop in me. My document isn’t excellent, I’ve blemishes, quite a lot of them on my document. I’m 17-10. However goddamnit, have I realized from each a kind of losses? Have I grown from them? Completely. And with the those that I practice with, there’s no manner that you simply’re not going to develop. At American Prime Crew, all you need to do is f****** present up. Simply present up, put within the work, and also you’re going to get higher.
“I don’t know when the turning level was, however the f****** mild simply turned on, but it surely was someday after that s*** run within the UFC. And now, these fighters within the UFC, I can cling with each a kind of motherf******, however the pay between Bellator and the UFC is considerably totally different.
“I assumed, ‘Holy s***, I’m launched from the UFC’ — and I labored 10 years to get that f****** level. I lastly get there, had a s*** run. However these have been studying factors for me. I made errors, and they’re going to by no means occur once more.”
Homasi is clearly thrilled on the response from followers each time he’s booked to compete, and that has given him a little bit of a lift at this stage in his profession. He actually as aspirations of being extra than simply the motion fighter, however he’s more than pleased to let the chips fall the place they might.
“I take it one battle at a time, I have to see what’s in entrance of me,” Homasi stated. “There’s no discuss top-five opponents, or titles, or anything until I safe this ‘W’ on Saturday. If a title shot is supposed to be, it should come. I simply have to handle what’s in entrance of me, and I simply need to enhance, as a result of you may’t cease studying on this recreation. Each day you f****** study one thing.”
Like Homasi, Ward enters Saturday’s bout on the heels of back-to-back end wins. After an almost five-year layoff, he returned to competitors in 2022 the place he picked up stoppages of Brandon Bell and Kassius Kane.
Homasi knocked out Maycon Mendonca in 58 seconds in his most up-to-date outing at Bellator 282, and he’s anticipating an all-out battle when he meets Ward in a historic bout for the promotion.
“It’s going to be a banger,” Homasi predicts. “I simply have to go in there with my head on straight and I’ll come out with my hand raised, and one other ‘W’ on my document. We’ve been attempting to make it occur, and it lastly did. I’m simply glad this battle got here to fruition.
“However ‘The Huge Sabowski’ goes to win in f****** spectacular trend.”
