Tomorrow night will mark the tenth fight for Mike Richman in the Bellator cage when he meets Ed West on the main card of Bellator 126, and it will mark the first time that Richman will compete as a bantamweight.
His previous nine fights in the promotion came as a featherweight and scored notable wins against Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra, Akop Stepanyan, and Chris Horodecki.
Prior to his last fight at Bellator 120 against Goiti Yamauchi, Richman told TheMMAReport.com that he would be dropping down to the bantamweight division no matter what happened in that fight. On that night in Mississippi, he lost a close decision which he feels he should have walked away with the victory.
“After looking over my fight with Goiti Yamauchi a couple times, I definitely think it was a close fight,” Richman said. “I felt I won the first and that was obviously the deciding round because I won the third and he won the second. I felt I controlled things in the first round and landed good combinations, but maybe that last little three-punch combo he landed in the first round might have swayed the judges.”
While he has now lost back to back fights on his official record, there are many people that believe he won both of those fights, including Richman. However, he has to move on and that starts with his fight against West tomorrow night. With the move to bantamweight, Richman is planning to go old school with his mentality.
“If you look back through all our interviews, a common theme is that I’ve always been trying to find the right balance between being ferocious and aggressive but still staying composed, patient and technical,” he said. “I’m going old school for this next fight. I’ll go in there with the mentality to kill him and I’m not leaving until he’s finished. At bantamweight, I feel like my aggression will be a big factor and that I can stop the takedowns of even the high-level wrestlers. I’m gonna go in there and try to destroy the dude – plain and simple. I’m bringing back my free-flowing style.”
“I want to return to the mindset I had against Chris Horodecki: no one knew who I was, I went in there fearless, I knew my abilities and I didn’t think about anything other than shocking the MMA world. I’m gonna bring that down to bantamweight with me. This is a huge fight. I’m in title contention with a big win on Spike TV and I’m gonna frickin’ win – and finish him.”
His opponent tomorrow night is no stranger to the Bellator cage as West was a finalist in the season three bantamweight tournament and a semifinalist in the season five tournament. His last victory came at Bellator 91 with a head kick knockout and Richman is well aware of the kicking arsenal that West will be bringing to the cage in their fight.
“Ed West has got some kind of fancy karate or Taekwondo style. He’s very kicky; he does a lot of switch kicks and crescent-type kicks,” Richman said. “He’s fleet-footed. He’s light on his feet. He does play the fencing game a little bit. He seems to have pretty decent straight punches but he also leaves himself open to be countered at times. The reality of it is that I see weaknesses in his game, he sees weaknesses in mine and it’ll be a battle of wills that decides the striking game.”
“As far as his grappling goes, he seems to give up takedowns because he’s comfortable on his back. And I know he’s tricky off his back but I had Goiti Yamauchi and Popo Bezerra on their backs, and they’re both black belts and they didn’t submit me. I feel like I can take him down anywhere but … do I want to? No, I wanna knock him the f–k out. But, can I? Yeah, so that’s always a possibility.”
A victory by Richman will put him right in the mix in the Bellator 135 pound division and he has a promise to everyone that will be tuning in to his fight tomorrow night on Spike TV.
“I’m promising to bring back the ferocious, nasty, devastating firepower,” he said. “I’m going to put Ed West away. It’s my time at bantamweight. I’m about to make an amazing title run at 135. I’m either becoming champion or I’m going down in a blaze of fucking glory.”