John Salter on Aaron Jeffery: “Least Stressed I’ve Ever Felt Going Into A Fight”
John Salter collides with Aaron Jeffery at Bellator 293 on March 31st.
Salter appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts to touch on the machinations of this middleweight matchup, returning after a bit over a year out of the cage, and so much more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
John Salter
Salter’s feelings on breaking this lengthy period of competitive dormancy
“I’m, like you said, excited to get back in there and get my hand raised. It’s been a while, it will be a little over a year since I fought by the time the fight happens. I would have fought this Summer but, I don’t really want to use the term injury, but I’ve never had it happen before where my back just kind of locked up. Where I couldn’t stretch, I couldn’t bend over, I couldn’t do anything. All I could really do was spar.”
“Even walking was hard so I just kind of spent the whole summer just sparring. But not really doing anything else and hitting pads. That’s about it. So I got over that, got healthy, good to go. So I’m ready to get back in and get another fight under my belt.”
John Salter vs Aaron Jeffery
Facing a top ten ranked middleweight here on the heels of facing the last two middleweight champs (Gegard Mousasi and Johnny Eblen)
“I think this is probably the least stressed I’ve ever felt going into a fight. Because I’ve fought the best two guys in the division. You know, this is just to go out there and try to prove that I’m still the guy right there with ’em. For so long, it was trying to climb and get a title shot. So I’ve got to win in a certain way, got to be impressive. Then I lost the title shot. Then I was like ok, well I’ve got to beat this guy to try and get another title shot as soon as possible. Now there’s no pressure like that anymore. So it’s kind of nice.”
Bellator 293
Thoughts on Jeffery’s resume and stylistic attributes in the context of how this fight could play out
“I don’t think that he’s going to wrestle with me. Maybe he will. Maybe he’ll come out, surprise me, and shoot on me. He may really want to come out and show that he can wrestle well. I don’t know but I would kind of be surprised if that were his game plan. But if that’s what happens and it turns into a back-and-forth wrestling match then that would be interesting too. I think no matter what, he’s a guy that likes to finish, I’m a guy that likes to finish. So it’s going to be a fun fight to watch.”
