Photo credit to Lost Coast Outpost
Bellator’s Cass Bell ready for ‘biggest test of my career’, knows vacant title is around the corner.
The undefeated bantamweight, Cass Bell, looks to make his case for the vacant title.
Cass Bell is one of the most exciting prospects in the Bellator ranks. An undefeated 5-0 record, Bell has been with the promotion since his debut professional fight back in 2018. The California native has been itching for Bellator to come back, but that he got an initial call to help welcome the promotion back to the fans, that was special for Bell.
“I’ve been waiting for months, when I got that opportunity, when I got that call I jumped all over it,” Bell said. It’s special to be on this welcome back card and I get to fight Stots who I was scheduled to fight months ago.”
Bell says the second he got the call he went into fight camp, or into as close of a fight camp as can be during these times. Like most places, Humboldt County, was shutdown and access to gyms was impossible. Bell actually turned to having his own children as his coaches and training partners most days.
“We’d go to the beach and train, we’d run, it was time training while also being with my children,” Bell told MyMMANews. “Luckily a day or two after getting the call for this fight, my gym opened. It was still weird, my main training partner was a dummy because of social distancing, it was weird but have to do whatever to get ready,”
Bell is relieved though that during the pandemic the last few months his coach John Thompson and teammate Tyson Miller all decided to quarantine together to make makeshift training easier. Bell is returning to the cage with a familiar foe, Raufeon Stots. Bell was rumored to face the 13-1 competitor back before the pandemic cancelled all upcoming events. Stots is 1-0 in Bellator, and a winner of five straight.
“I’ve wanted this fight for a long time,” Bell told MyMMANews. “He comes from a big gym, big team. I believe I’m one of the top bantamweights in Bellator so this is going to be a great test. This will be my toughest fight yet.”
Cass Bell admits that Stots being from a big name gym (Roufusport MMA) adds a chip on the shoulder as Bell comes from his close knit smaller gym, Institute of Combat. Possibly the most important question when speaking with Bell was that of his current hair color. For those who don’t know Bell always dyes his hair green before every fight. It is currently that perfect shade of green.
“It’s my war paint,” Bell explained. “It started seven years ago, my sons favorite color, I was a kid with no tattoos, I needed something to stand out and get people excited. It’s a mixture between my sons favorite color and Humboldt county is the land of the trees, perfect mix.”
Bell admits it took a while, four years to be exact, to come to the perfect shade that he wanted. Bell tells MyMMAnews that he one day will come out with a hair product for his fans. Speaking of family importance, Bell is a family man. His two children and wife have been cageside for all of his fights to date. This will be the first fight they will not be making the trip.
“It’s going to be so hard. So different,” Bell told MyMMANews. “They even came to Hawaii to see me fight. I can always hear them, especially my daughter, so It’s going to be very different but I’ve got a job to do.”
While no fans will be in attendance, Bell knows the job is the same. Currently with the Bellator Bantamweight title vacated, this fight between two hype trains becomes super important, possibly with a title fight in the near future. Watch Bellator 242 this Friday July 24th, 2020 at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
