Chris Honeycutt made his Bellator debut last year and he will be looking for his third win in the promotion next Friday night when he meets Paul Bradley at Bellator 140 in Connecticut.
Honeycutt (6-0) recently told The MMA Report that he would grade his performances in Bellator as a B- and wants to show next week that he is a top contender in the Bellator welterweight division when he faces Bradley.
When people think about the fighting style of Honeycutt and Bradley, the first thing that will come to mind is their wrestling backgrounds. When it comes to MMA wrestling, are they the same or different?
“I think it’s safe to say that they are similar,” Honeycutt explained. “We will find out here in the next week if they are. Hopefully, he does not showcase any wrestling and I beat his ass. I only watched a few videos and I see he has a couple of common traits that he excels at and repeats them because they don’t fail. I plan to shut down those things that I saw and see where it takes me. I think my cardio will out last his so after about two and a half minutes into the first round, I feel like the stock is going to be dumping on my side and he is going to start to get more desperate. I just have to watch out for that overhand right.”
Bradley was a two-time All American wrestler at the University of Iowa and finished as high as fourth at the NCAA championships. Honeycutt was also a two-time All American wrestler at Edinboro University and his fight at Bellator 140 will mark the first time he has faced someone from Iowa.
“This will be my first victory over an Iowa guy. I never wrestled an Iowa guy through college. You would think that I would run into at least one,” he said. “I look forward to finally beating the crap out of an Iowa wrestler. I feel like his intensity — he does not give up. Any wrestler from Iowa, they will go until the wheels fall off.”
Since this fight was announced, some people have stated that this could be a bad matchup for Honeycutt due to the style Bradley brings to the cage. For Honeycutt, he is not worried about Bradley shutting down his wrestling as he brings more than wrestling to the cage.
“He can shut down my wrestling, I do not care. It’s all that he has [wrestling], as far as I am concerned. He is not afraid to throw and I know he is not afraid to throw. I certainly do not see the level of expertise in his hands, that he has in his wrestling. According to my boxing coach, he thinks my wrestling is comparable to my boxing. I am just so comfortable wrestling that I have not been able to showcase it yet. If he shuts me down on my takedowns, then what I great opportunity to show the world how great of a striker I am.”