Anytime Bellator goes to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, there is a very good chance that Matt Bessette will be on the card and he will return to the Bellator cage next Friday night when he meets Josh LaBerge on the preliminary card of Bellator 134.
Bessette (13-6) was a semifinalist in the season ten featherweight tournament as he lost to eventual tournament winner Daniel Weichel by unanimous decision at Bellator 114.
Following the defeat to Weichel, he returned at Bellator 123 and suffered his second straight defeat as he lost a decision to Scott Cleve.
Fighters always talk about the lessons they learn in defeats, but which fight did Bessette learn the most from?
“Both Scott and Daniel did the same thing to me,” Bessette told The MMA Report. “They realized that they needed to get the fight to the ground and kind of coast in the first round. They both lost the second round due to striking and then they were like, ‘god I got to get this fight to the ground in the third round.’ They just kind of stalled it out and that is MMA. There were a few positions where Scott kind of had my back and kind of didn’t. Nobody was going any damage and it was really frustrating. I learned a lot from it and I grew a lot in the last fight.”
Next Friday night, he will meet LaBerge in a bout that will take place after the main card broadcast on Spike TV. LaBerge is a former Strikeforce fighter and is currently on a seven fight win streak. Bessette likes the matchup because of the type of fight his opponent will bring to the cage.
“He is a powerful and explosive guy,” he said. “He comes to kill and those are the fights I love. Those are the fights I ask for. I specifically tell Bellator, I want a guy that is going to fight me. I do not want a guy that is going to hope and prey. Get on top of me and just do nothing or the guy that is going to avoid a fist fight. I want a fist fight. I am here to fight, not to out point a guy. I want to get in there and fight. I want to bleed. I want to make the other guy bleed. I want something crazy to happen every fight and usually it does. Last couple of fights, I kind of got stalled out.”
The ultimate goal for Bessette next Friday night will be to walk away with a victory, but another goal for him will be to get the victory by finish.
“I would to finish Josh, absolutely love to finish Josh because I know I can. If you go out looking for the finish, then a lot of times you are tense and you can not find it. So I am going to go out there and honestly do what I do in training. Relax, have a great time, open up my game, and hopefully I catch him with something.”