Ronny Markes Bellator 254 Presser

Bellator 254 is right around the corner and with a card full of bangers, Ronny Markes is ready to make his Bellator debut in style. During the Bellator 254 press conference, Markes addressed several questions surrounding multiple fight attempts. Markes was slated to fight Josh Barnett this time last year in Hawaii. Later, he was set to fight Matt Mitrione but the pandemic cancelled that fight as well. Now with a new fight in front of him, Markes sees a Bellator staple in Linton Vassell.

“Right now my focus is on Linton,” Markes stated.

“He’s a very talented fighter. He challenged twice in the light heavyweight [division]. It’s hard for you to fight for the title and he did that twice. He’s a very tough dude,” Markes continued.

During the press conference, Markes knew how tough his opponent, Vassell is. His first objective is to take a victory first. And while a victory is in his near sights, Markes couldn’t help but comment on the lost fight against Barnett.

“In the future, I’d really like to fight Barnett,” Markes stated.

“I not going to talk nothing bad about him … but I know the situation right now and I expect to fight him in the future.”

Markes is, most recently, coming off a victory over Sigi Paseleli in PFL in June 2019. Similarly, his opponent, Vassell has a heavyweight win against Sergei Kharitonov. Markes would like to settle in to his Bellator career before eyeing any potential title fights.

“I think I have a lot of credit,” Markes insisted.

“But right now I think who needs this title shot is Johnson … He works hard and he deserves this. I think after Linton I need to win one or a couple of more fights. And right now I really like to stay busy fighting. I don’t like to think about belt right now. I like to fight, stay busy, and not being away from my family.”

Markes makes his Bellator debut against Vassell in the co-main event of Bellator 254.