Emanuel Newton won the season eight Bellator light heavyweight tournament last month when he defeated Mikhail Zayats by unanimous decision and earned his title shot against Attila Vegh.
Vegh became the light heavyweight champion at the end of February when he defeated Christian M’Pumbu by unanimous decision and the upcoming title fight between Vegh and Newton will be a rematch of their 2012 bout.
They met at Bellator 72 last summer in the semifinals of the light heavyweight tournament and Vegh won a close split decision over Newton.
Many people felt that Newton won the fight and should have advanced to the finals to meet Travis Wiuff. However, two of the three judges scoring the fight gave it to Vegh and he went on to win the tournament the following month.
Newton explained on Monday’s edition of “The MMA Report Live” that he will be ready for the champion and will be looking for redemption.
“I am going to be ready for Attila.” Newton said. “This is definitely going to be redemption for me and I have to win this fight. I really want to finish him and have to finish him if anything. I am going to be training hard for this fight and I’m actually going to have a good six week camp. I am change a couple of things up that I think showed in my last fight with my training and just fine tuning little things and making sure I do the cut right, get the right rest and I get my diet right on.”
“The Hardcore Kid” went on to say that he will be a different fighter this time against Vegh and feels his style matches up better against a taller fighter.
“I am going to be a completely totally different fighter when I fight Attila. I am not going to be the same fighter that I was whats so ever. I think that a lot of stuff that we will be working is better for a taller guy anyways. Attila is 6’3 or something like that, so I think that a lot of my techniques are going to land a lot better than they did on the shorter Russian, which was Mikhail, who is 5’10. I enjoy fighting longer fighters. I think it makes it a little easier for me because I am able to use my range and my outside game.”
Bellator has not announced when the title fight between Vegh and Newton will take place, but Newton thinks the fight will take place in July.
“I’m guessing July sometime. I have not pushed them [Bellator] to see when the date is going to be but I know a lot goes into planning those fights, like who is going to be the draw for the card and who is going to be the main event. I would like to at least know six to seven weeks out of what the date of the fight.”