Rovion Stotts reflects on injured Bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis and faces Juan Archuleta for the interim belt to open the Bellator Bantamwete Grand Prix at Bellator 279
Raufeon Stots was one of the first Bellator MMA defenders to hold the Bantamweight Grand Prix featuring a deep and talented 135-pound roster. Needless to say, things did not go as expected already.
In Bellator first, the tournament will now be for a temporary tournament after bantamide heavyweight champion Sergio Pettis was injured. A rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament required surgery for the hero It will keep him out of action for at least six to nine months.
There is a sense of disappointment for someone like Stots – who has gained momentum and worked his way up to third in the Bellator bantamweight classification. But there is a sense of relief as well.
Stots was booked into his first title fight of the tournament, but would have set him up against Pettis, his longtime teammate and friend.
“It was bittersweet,” Stots said in an exclusive interview with FanSided MMA’s Amy Kaplan following the Bellator 277 and 279 press conference. But this is no secret. I don’t want to fight my son. I just feel like, internally, I was fighting. It’s like I’m trying to steal his girlfriend. I just got upset about it.
“So when he actually called me, it was like, ‘Hey, man, I want to apologize, man. I’m sorry I got hurt in training.’ He said to me and I felt a little relieved, but I was sad, you know? Because his health comes first. And that’s a tough injury to come back from. I’m praying for him, and I know he’s going to get through this challenge, like any other, but yeah, I was a bit comfortable not having to fight him.”
Bellator 279: Raufeon Stots says he’s the bodyguard for bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis, and will hold the title until he’s ready to fight again
Since arriving at Bellator a little over two years ago – making his debut in the same arena as Bellator 279 – he has rapidly risen through the ranks and attracted more and more attention to him thanks to his stature, superior wrestling and overall dominance in matches.
Stots, who has lost only 18 fights in his MMA career to date, has sent Cheyden Leialoha, Cass Bell, Keith Lee, Josh Bell and Magomed Magomedov so far at Bellator, before the Grand Prix was announced.
The initial announcement for the arc, which featured Pettis versus Stots in the first round, nonetheless raised some questions from the MMA community given the pair’s relationship.
However, Stotts said he made it clear to him that it made more sense on his first championship shot given that No. 2 seed Bache Mix had not made it into the title match with Juan Archuleta, the man who lost the title to Betis. At Bellator 258 last year.
“A lot of people think [Pettis and I would be in the finals]Stots said. “But where did Bellator come from, that was explained to me, it made no sense to anyone else [to fight for the title]. It would be a mockery to me if anyone else fought for the title because I deserved to fight for the title. So when they said that, I was like, I guess, but that’s just a matter of situation.”
Even though Pettis was forced to pull out of the fight, Stots still feels like he’s seeking a world championship in his next match, which will now come against Archuleta.
Stots further promised that he would win the entire tournament, not to mention fight with Archuleta, and hold the temporary gold medal until his friend is ready to fight and unite the title.
“He. She [still] I feel like I’m fighting for the world championship just because Sergio is going to be out for so long. I also think that I am the best in the world. I feel Sergio is my hardest test. I also think he is the real hero. So, pretty much, I’m going to hold on to the belt for him until he comes back. I’ve said it before like, I want to be Sergio’s bodyguard for all these people coming. It kind of works that way. So I’m going to hold the belt until injury free, and I’ll be the champ until injury free. And then when he comes back, we can settle down.”
The biggest disappointment about Betis’ injury – besides that of a good friend – is that Stots has already moved to Las Vegas for his camp. According to Stots, he moved there to training camp for that fight, where he and Pettis – both training at Roufusport – agreed to give each other some distance in anticipation of a potential fight.
“That’s the most money I’ve spent at camp and after he got injured, I couldn’t get any of my money back,” Stots said. “And I’m not in a position to just throw that money away. So, I called [Roufusport] Coaches and talk to roosters [Roufus] And I was like, ‘Hey, I actually spent money here. So I’ll kind of end here. I’m still a fighter at Roufusport, but I’ll finish it here.”
However, Stots added that his Rofosport teammates Emmanuel Sanchez and Christian Rodriguez made their way to Vegas after Betis’ injury to help Stots. Both, as well as Brian Bautista, would be Stutts’ corner in the interim title fight, however Stots had been in frequent contact with Rovosport coaches in the lead-up to that.
Archuleta, an expert on ground games like Stots, is not a fighter to be taken lightly given his experience and success at both bantamweight and featherweight at Bellator. But Stots says he will make a statement against him, and possibly end the matter.
“I think I finished Juan, maybe around the third turn. I think I’m going to keep pushing him. He’s a tough guy, but I don’t think he wants to fight, and I’m going to make him fight all the time.”
Bellator 279 takes place on Saturday, April 23, the second night of the Bellator consecutive cards from Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, HI.
Bellator will top 279 in the women’s featherweight championship rematch between Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Arlene Blencowe. This was originally scheduled to be the event’s co-main event until Betis’ injury moved this match into the main title slot.
Bellator 279 will also feature another Bantamweight Grand Prix quarterfinal match between Mix and current Bantamweight Champion and former Bellator Keiji Horiguchi.
Follow up with FanSided for all the live news and highlights.
[ad_2]
