Linton Vassell is back in action at Bellator 218, facing Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight division encounter.
Some fighters ponder a change in weight classes after a tough fight or a tough loss, but Vassell knew the move was coming before his last bout against Phil Davis.
“A few things actually, my last fight against Phil (Davis)…the weight cut was a little bit harder than usual. Win or lose, I said I was going to move up. Obviously it didn’t go my way, so I thought 'you know what, it is definitely time to bump up (a weight class)’ and I moved up to heavyweight. Right now I’s at 113 kilos, I was walking around at about 105 and that was because I was dieting all the time at light heavyweight. So now it’s just eat…train normally and the weight is piled on,” says Vassell in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Vassell has competed at light heavyweight prior to the change in weight class, earning an overall record of 7-4-0 in Bellator MMA.
The Bellator star is teammates with newly crowned UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman and Vassell was motivated by what went down at UFC 235.
“It is motivational…seriously, watching him do what he did…I was like ‘that’s what I’m gonna do.’ I want to dominate…really am, I had him winning the fight obviously. But to see the way he did it was very, very impressive,” says Vassell.
Bellator 218 takes place on Friday, March 22 from the Winstar World Resort & Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma with Emmnauel Sanchez and Georgi Karakhanyan headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on the Paramount Network.
