Tyrell Fortune

Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/ Bellator MMA

Tyrell Fortune on Bellator heavyweights “Nobody that fights like me”

Tyrell Fortune tests skills with Daniel James at Bellator 288 on November 18th.

Fortune once again appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and covered several subjects amid our chat. Excerpts from our conversation are below.

Tyrell Fortune

Possible Tim Johnson and Steve Mowry bouts down the line after both fights fell by the wayside earlier this year and what fights are intriguing to Fortune

“Really anybody in front of me. I’m ranked five. So four, three, two, one is who I always ask to fight. When I have to fight guys like Daniel James and things like that, I think that’s more saying the guys that are in front of me don’t want to fight. They’re not accepting these fights because when’s the last time Cheick Kongo fought? Like why am I not fighting Cheick? It’s probably because Cheick didn’t accept the fight.”

“Fedor’s not fighting anybody else. He wants to get a rematch with (Ryan) Bader. So he’s not accepting the fight with his old ass. Then I just lost to Linton (Vassell). So I can’t really ask for that one right now because we just fought. I’ve never had the opportunity to fight (Valentin) Moldavsky, him being number one. So it’s just opportunity comes, I’m always willing to take it.”

Bellator 288

How to navigate tape studying amid many opponents pulling out on Fortune

“I’ll watch a few fights of the guy to obviously see what their skillset looks like. But I don’t hyper-focus on what they have to offer. I think from what I have to offer when I look around the weight class, there’s nobody that fights like me. So for me to look at their fights and expect them to fight me the exact same way that they had gone out there and fought whoever I’m watching, it doesn’t really make sense. So nah, like you said I’m focusing more on my skillset. I’ve had opponents change on Monday of fight week. So I can’t get too caught up in who I’m fighting.”

author avatar
Dylan Bowker
I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.