As Ed West makes his way to the Bellator cage tonight to compete against Mike Richman, he’ll be making the stroll to the promotion’s venue of hazard for the eighth time in his career.
West, a veteran of the sport that is coming off a tough 1-3 stretch, is motivated to compete once again because of his love for Mixed Martial Arts.
“I’ve been fighting professionally for 12 years as of this coming February. I have other things I do to make money, but fighting has been, for lack of a better description, my mistress,” said West. “It’s always something I think about. I love martial arts very much and enjoy doing it. That’s why I stick with it and keep doing it… because I love it.”
Still, his love for the sport does not eradicate West’s disappointment in his most recent outings.
“I’ve accomplish nothing that I wanted. I wanted to one day be ranked in the top ten and that hasn’t happened yet. I wanted to make enough money to help my mother pay off the house,” said West. “I do hope I can still achieve some of those things though. I think being in a great organization like Bellator is the perfect opportunity at this point, because a fighter like me can really stand out rather than be a faceless fighter out of hundreds in a different organization.”
The 30-year-old is frustrated with where he is at this point in his career, although he’s looking to rectify that in Bellator, starting tonight.
“I absolutely believe I can achieve those goals. I have to believe that, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. I never did fight for the money,” said West. “At the end of the day, if you’re not doing martial arts because you love it, you’re in the wrong business.”
Sizing up his opponent, West understands that Mike Richman possesses a wide array of skills, although he is still confident about the outcome.
“The guy’s (Richman) a stud. He’s well rounded, he’s a puncher, he comes forward, he tries to finish fights and he’s fought a lot of tough guys,” said West. “I absolutely believe I can beat him, otherwise I wouldn’t be showing up on fight day. But it’ll be one of those things where I’ll have to out-wok the guy.”
While Ed West believes that he is an unpredictable fighter from a stylistic standpoint, he promises an entertaining fight tonight.
“You can’t train for me. Nobody can train for me because you can’t predict what I’m going to do,” said West. “The only thing you can predict about me is that it’s going to be a fun fight, for sure.”