The mixed martial arts career of Dennis Olson began in 2006 and he will have the biggest opportunity of his career on Friday night when he meets Paul Daley in the opening bout of the Bellator 140 main card on Spike.
Olson (14-8) is coming off a split decision win against Jarod Lawton in April and he will be looking for back to back victories for the first time since 2010.
It’s no secret that Olson will be a huge betting underdog in this fight and most people are expecting for Daley to score a victory. With that being said, is one of the biggest motivations for Olson heading into this fight that no one is giving him a chance to win?
“I was saying to someone the other day that it’s a situation where everyone in the world has the absolute right to overlook me,” Olson told The MMA Report. “But the only thing I kind of feel disrespected is that I am being overlooked by my opponent. He already has bouts signed, promoted and getting ready for kickboxing matches. Talking about rematching [Josh] Koscheck and I am over here training 3-7 hours a day trying to get ready to beat him. It’s the only thing I have thought about for the last month and a half since my last fight. I think mathematically everyone has the right to say ‘who is this guy and why is he getting this opportunity.’ With Mohegan kind of being in the Northeast and if you follow me at all locally, I think I deserve the opportunity to be seen by the national circuit.”
This will be the third time that Olson will step into the Bellator cage. Both of those fights were defeats and as he told The MMA Report, he was fighting out of his weight class in those fights and took them on short notice. He has been in camp for over six weeks preparing to face Daley and one of the keys for him in this fight is to keep moving.
“As far as physical game plan, I think I really need to make sure I keep my feet moving and I have to keep him in my range,” he explained. “When we are in the stand up, I can not let him walk me down. I can’t let him land combinations. I have to keep him respecting my stand up game. I think that is one thing that I am going to have to enforce. The fact that I am not afraid to stand with him if I have too. Fight for that takedown. I know he has fought high level competition. Better wrestlers, jiu-jitsu, and strikers than me. But the combination of all of them, I am not sure.”
No question, a victory by Olson would be the biggest of his career. A victory that would instantly make him a title challenger in the Bellator welterweight division. He is expecting Daley to come out firing quickly and his plan is to submit Daley at some point.
“The prediction that I would give is that he has about three minutes of the fight to really enforce his style of game planning. If he wants to knock me out with one of his big strikes. Big left hook or an overhand right. Whatever he wants to do with that specific style, it’s going to have to happen early. For him to do that, he is going to have to come very aggressive and very hard. I think that is going to open up my takedown game. I am not just a wrestler. I play rugby and football for a long time too. On his explosive angles and movements, I am going to be able to snap him out of mid air. I think it’s going to be a great fight wherever it goes, but I see it ending in submission in my favor.”