Bellator 205’s John Salter talks Rafael Lovato Jr, title shots, and more
Bellator 205 is upon us.
The Viacom owned promotion touches down in Boise, Idaho for the first time in company history Friday night (Sept. 21 2018). Although the card is lacking in star power there are plenty of intriguing match-ups to look forward to.
MyMMANews caught up with one such fighter competing on the card. Perennial middleweight contender John Salter will take on unbeaten Rafael Lovato Jr in the co-main event of the evening. But before Salter settles the score with Lovato he spoke with us.
These two fighters were scheduled to face off in Chicago early this year at Bellator 198. However, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation refused to license Salter due to an old eye injury.
“I’m just glad we are finally going to get to get in there and fight,” said Salter when asked about his original booking with Lovato. “Nothing personal or anything like that, I think Lovato is a great guy and he is a world class Jiu-Jitsu competitor. I’m just looking forward to the fight.”
It may not be personal between these two but in all honesty, the winner of this fight should be next in line for a middleweight title shot. Salter knows what’s at stake all too well.
“You got to think the winner of this fight deserves the next shot,” said Salter. “I’ve been here in Bellator for a while now taking care of my end. Im on a seven-fight win streak. I just can’t see anyone else deserving it more than the winner of this fight.”
Indeed, if Salter does beat Lovato this weekend it would be hard to deny him his chance at gold. But sometimes things don’t go as planned. As for how he thinks the fight is going to go against Lovato, well that remains to be seen, but Salter does have two training camps under his belt in preparation for the BJJ ace.
“I believe I’m totally prepared to fight Lovato,” Saler explained. “This is the second full camp I’ve had specifically for him. “The hard thing about preparing to fight Rafael is that he is so dam long. He is a really tall middleweight. I mean, I’m a good siz185-pound fighter but Lovato is 6’3.” Salter continued, “We had to bring guys in with very specific credentials to meet my training needs for this fight. In some instances, I had to travel but I got the looks I needed. I’m more than ready for Friday.”
Bellator 205 is live on the Paramount Network and DAZN at 10/9c.
