Following a brief retirement following his defeat to Riki Fukuda at UFC on FUEL TV 6, Tom DeBlass returned to mixed martial arts earlier this year and has won back to back fights in Bellator MMA.
Both of his wins in Bellator have come by TKO/KO and defeated former UFC fighter Jason Lambert in less than two minutes at Bellator 108 last month.
Following his win over Lambert, DeBlass told TheMMAReport.com that he sent a text to Bellator executive Sam Caplan that he would like to face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
“He [Rampage] fought Beltran the same night that I fought Lambert and he said that all the 205’ers should be scared of him,” DeBlass said. “I am not scared of him. I texted Sam Caplan the same night and asked him if he could put together Rampage and I. I would like the opportunity to fight him.”
Caplan has not offered him a fight against Rampage or any other fighters at this time and DeBlass only has one fight left on his current contract with Bellator. A potential fight for him in Bellator could be Tito Ortiz. The two fighters recently exchanged tweets after a fan asked DeBlass if he would be interested in a fight with Ortiz.
“What happened is that someone tweeted that they wanted to see Tito and I fight. So I was like ‘I’m in.’ I am one hundred percent in. Then he [Tito] tweeted me back that he would kick my ass for free or something like that. I was like, I would rather you try to beat me up in the Bellator cage so I can get paid. I am not going to street fight, so we went back and fourth and then the next day, he deleted all the tweets that he tweeted to me.”
While DeBlass would like to face Ortiz, he understands if the former UFC champion is not interested in the fight. He feels for Ortiz and the situation he is currently going through, but if Ortiz wants to fight, he will take the fight.
“If Tito is not interested in the fight, he has got other things going clearly in his personal life that I respect. I feel for the guy. His ex-wife is putting him through a lot of trouble and right now, he seems to be really in a positive place with his kids and really focusing on them and I respect that totally.”
“I just think that Tito is in a different spot right now. He is a legend and he has done so much for the sport. I was a huge fan of his and literally no disrespect at all. I feel for him in his situation and I wish him the best. If he is focused on other things, than he is focused on other things. All I am saying that if he were to fight and he wanted to fight, I would gladly be the one that he fought.”
Since letting his feelings known that he would be interested in facing Ortiz, the public response has been positive, according to DeBlass. He has only been fighting professional for nearly four years and feels that he is coming into his own right now.
“I got to the UFC in a year in a half and the first fight was like on a weeks notice. I was dominating Cyrille [Diabate] until I got tired and Riki [Fukuda] was just a tough fight. I learned so much from those fights to where I think it’s clear that I am really coming into my own right now.”
He believes that a fight would be interesting and is not trying to disrespect Ortiz by saying he is interested in fighting him.
“I think it would be interesting and no disrespect. I am not saying I am anything special. Of course, I believe in myself just like every fighter believes in them self. Of course, I think that I am something special and every fighter has to think that way. It’s like, put me on the main card. I was supposed to be on the main card against Vladimir [Matyushenko] and then Vladimir got hurt, so me and Lambert got bumped to the preliminaries. I made it to Spike TV but I should have been on the main card to start. I just feel that they are going to keep those guys away from me.”
Only time will tell whether DeBlass will get an opportunity to face Ortiz in the Bellator cage. Ortiz is currently recovering from an injury and a timetable for his potential Bellator debut is unknown at this time.
If DeBlass is unable to get a fight with Ortiz, could a Bellator light heavyweight tournament be in his future? Well, he has no interest in going into a tournament and having to compete three times in three months.
“I have another life besides MMA. I am not going to fight three times in three months. I have so much stuff going on in my life. MMA is not going to use me, I am going to use MMA, so I am going to do what I want and that is what it comes down to. I don’t feel like doing the tournament right now. I am too busy. I have my family, my school. It just does not make sense.”