Ian Butler is in action this weekend at Bellator 214, facing Craig Plaskett in a preliminary card encounter.
One of Butler’s favorite fighters is former two division UFC champion BJ Penn, whom Butler has had the opportunity to train with a few times now.
“...my favorite fighter of all-time was BJ Penn, I trained with him when (he fought Ryan Hall). When he fought Ryan Hall and I trained with him when he fought Yair (Rodriguez), obviously it wasn’t a good fight for BJ. It was just meeting him and everything else was just so great and he’s a world class guy, I’ve been super blessed to even train with Tony Ferguson and stuff like that. And BJ…just his mentality in general is just so amazing man, as soon I met met him…he goes ‘hey, whats up, I’m BJ Penn.’ Obviously I know who he is, that was the amazing part…he is so humble and he introduces himself and I’m like ‘dude, you’re a hall of famer, you probably don’t give a crap about me.’ He was just so amazing man, it was just amazing meeting him and being in his circle during those training camps” says Butler in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Butler has already competed four time under the Bellator MMA banner, but has yet to get that elusive first win in the promotion.
Some fighters prefer getting the finish over going the distance, but Butler views things differently.
“I’m a pressure guy, I like applying pressure. So hopefully…I like going to decision to display my skills. I want it to go all three so I can get some time in for sure…Bellator cage time, because its been awhile since I have done that. Especially after my last fight with Joey Davis in the Bellator cage was pretty short, I definitely want to spend more time in the cage doing that. So hopefully I can spend some time doing that and maybe he might fold, he tends to gas a little bit. So hopefully I can get him late into the second or in the third, if it goes all three…it goes all three,” says Butler.
Bellator 214 takes place on Saturday, January 26 from The Forum in Inglewood, California with Ryan Bader and Fedor Emelianenko headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on the Paramount Network.
