Bellator 255 Media Day quotes pt 2 (Jason Jackson and Neiman Gracie)
Bellator 255 Media Day took place earlier today ahead of the event which goes Friday, April 2nd.
The top of the marquee feature at Bellator 255 is a rematch between Patricio Pitbull and Emmanuel Sanchez. The stakes are high for that bout as the winner is not only the Bellator MMA world featherweight champion. But they also punch their ticket to the Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix finals opposite AJ McKee.
I took part in the virtual experience and below are excerpts from my interactions with opposing fighters. Jason Jackson and Neiman Gracie (ranked #6 and #3 at welterweight respectively per Bellator’s official rankings) took a bit of time with me ahead of their fight at Bellator 255.
Bellator 255 Media Day
Jason Jackson
A lot has been made in this scrum about your time in Florida with Sanford MMA. But born in Kingston, Jamaica, I’m kind of curious about your thoughts on just the domestic growth of Mixed Martial Arts there.
It seems like MMA Jamaica Sports Federation is making big strides in regulating and promoting the sport. So can you speak about the grassroots MMA scene in Jamaica?
“Yes. Definitely need a bit more development. They need good wrestling program and good kickboxing program. Stuff like that, boxing, world-class coaches. That’s all I feel like the Jamaican Federation is missing. You got all the athletes and all the talent. It’s just waiting.”
Neiman Gracie
I was just noticing your opponent Jason Jackson has no official losses via submission. They do have a submission loss as part of The Ultimate Fighter season 21 but that’s categorically an exhibition bout.
Is there any level of focus in wanting to hand Jason Jackson that first submission loss or just however the fight unfurls kind of thing?
“I want to give a submission loss to everyone I fight. So it doesn’t matter if he has a submission loss or not. I fought a couple guys that never had been submitted before and I was able to submit them. And that’s not an extra thing to want to finish this fight by submission. Because every fight, I want to finish by submission. So that’s always my goal.”
