Matt Bessette

Matt Bessette: ‘I want blood, I want giving up’ at CES 60

Matt Bessette has been a busy man these days: a new job as a correctional officer, having a new baby in the house, coaching, gym ownership, and, not to mention, about to fight for the CES featherweight title once again.

“The Mangler” will headline CES 60 this Friday night when he faces Charles Cheeks III for the organization’s 145-pound title. The event takes place at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI and will stream live on UFC Fight Pass.

Bessette joined MyMMANews.com to discuss fighting for the title he never lost after being called up to the UFC, how much life has changed with everything going on these days, if any of the inmates at the prison he works at knew who he was, his return to CES last March, trying to get a fight with former champion Bruce Boyington and what happened from his perspective, fighting on the same card with teammate and friend Johnny Lopez, thoughts on the matchup with Cheeks III, if he was offered a spot on the Contender Series last season (which he was, as seen on Twitter), goals for 2020 as a fighter and more.

In addition, Bessette has set high expectations for himself in regards to how he sees the fight playing out.

“Do you remember the Kevin Croom fight [at CES 41]? Do you remember how dominant that was? I want it twice as dominant,” Bessette told MyMMANews.com. “I want blood. I want [him] giving up. I want a hard sub, a hard knockout, something that makes you go, ‘Holy s**t!’. Pat Miletich was like, ‘wow’ after I beat Croom. I want that and I won’t settle for anything less.”

Check out the full conversation with Matt Bessette as he prepares to face Charles Cheeks III for the vacant CES featherweight title in the main event of Friday night’s CES 60 event in the video above.

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Mike Heck
Mike Heck is the a freelance MMA journalist covering the sport for a number of websites. Specializing in video interviews, Mike interviews everybody from prospects, to title contenders, to world champions, along with other influential personalities in the sport of MMA. Subscribe to his channel at https://youtube.com/mikeheckmma.