Mandel Nallo plans for active year following Bellator 255 on April 2
Mandel Nallo is tired of waiting.
The Canadian is not the most active fighter after competing just one time in each of the last six years. He kicks off 2021 against fellow lightweight Ricardo Seixas at Bellator 255 in Uncasville, Connecticut on April 2.
It’s a start to what the 31-year-old expects to be the busiest year of his career.
“I’m definitely not happy with the pace my career has taken, but I’ve already broken the curse of fighting once every Fall because I’m fighting next week,” Nallo said.
“Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling this year and get some momentum.”
Mandel Nallo eyes a career-high four appearances this year
Nallo is even aiming for a career first, four fights in one year. The most amount of times “Rat Garbage” competed in a year was twice in 2014.
The stretch included two-consecutive first-round submission wins against Jonathan Roblin and Ryan Rahovich in the Hybrid Pro Series promotion.
About a week away from his next bout, he is favoring a July turnaround. He even has a specific scenario in mind.
“I would say, obviously all these fights would be wins,” Nallo said. “I would fight sometime in July and I would fight sometime in the fall. Then if I can squeeze a fourth one in during some New Year’s show that would be very nice.”
Seeing Seixas
Nallo last won inside the Bellator cage in October 2018. He suffered his first professional defeat via third-round TKO to Killys Mota at Bellator 231 in October 2019.
Nallo attempted to rebound against Saad Awad, but an accidental low blow he landed turned the fight into a no contest at Bellator 249 this past October.
Even this year started somewhat differently than he expected. His original Bellator 255 opponent Keoni Diggs was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed reason.
Seixas’ last appearance was his promotional debut back in January 2020. Nallo defeated Dominic Clark with a 34-second knockout at Bellator 238, rebounding from two-straight losses to Jacob Rosales and now-UFC welterweight Christian Aguilera.
“He [Seixas] looks good. He looks like he is probably more skilled on the ground then on the feet, but he is pretty well-rounded everywhere,” Nallo said.
Put a stamp on it
All seven of Nallo’s victories are by finish. Earning his eighth-career finish against Seixas would be the ideal start to 2021 according to Nallo.
Fighting and winning often is important to him this year, but how he wins, is even more of a priority.
“I think the fashion in which you win is more important than what the matchup is because everyone is really good now,” Nallo said. “It was apparent before things got really hyper competitive, just stringing together a couple of wins doesn’t really move you up that much, but I think it is a lot more apparent now.”
