The Bellator debut of Derek Bohi did not go as plan last year at Bellator 130 when he lost to Alex Huddleston and the defeat was a wakeup call for the fighter from Kansas City.
Bohi (6-3) was defeated in the first round by TKO and following the fight, he realized that things needed to change. He needed to reevaluate aspects of his training, which included making changes in his strength and conditioning.
“I made quite a few changes. Basically, rededicated myself to training,” Bohi told The MMA Report. “Make sure I was including more strength and conditioning. In my last fight in Bellator, I felt like I was doing fine and I just got out muscled. When I got out muscled, I started to make mistakes and then it snowed ball from there. I kind of reevaluated my strength and conditioning, added some new training partners, and started working on more aspects of my game.”
Was this the first time in his career that he has been overpowered by his opponent? The answer to this is no as this happened to Bohi during his amateur career.
“It happened earlier as I had an amateur fight not go my way,” he explained. “I lost a decision and I felt like I got overpowered. It was kind of eye opening as I was always the stronger fighter. Once that happened, I started lifting weights. Got into weight training pretty significantly. I kind of got away from it. I went into the last Bellator fight almost if it makes sense, I fought almost the same fight two fights in a row. I was planning on going out and striking and if it went to the ground, whatever happens. The guy that I fought previously to Alex was a trainer partner of Alex. He was ready for everything that worked in my previous fight. He was ready ahead of time and I was like I have to change my style up. I have to start being unpredictable instead of doing the same stuff everything.”
Since the lost to Huddleston, he has won back to back fights and both of those wins have come by stoppage. His most recent win came in March as he defeated T.J. Jones by submission in the first round at Phoenix Fighting Championship. Tomorrow night, he will look to win his third fight in a row, when he meets Fredrick Brown.
Bellator fans may remember the story on Brown. He stepped up on twelve hours notice last year to take a fight in Bellator and was defeated by Daniel Gallemore. This is his first fight since that defeat and Bohi is familiar with Brown as they know each other from jiu-jitsu tournaments. Bohi believes his jiu-jitsu will be an advantage for him and while he does not have any prediction on how he will win, he firmly expects for the referee to raise his hand as the victory tomorrow night at Bellator 139.
“I am prepared to use my jiu-jitsu on the top, bottom, standing, whatever I need to do to win the fight. I feel well-rounded and my training has been great. I am not sure how it’s going to happen, but I know it’s going to happen for me.”