The Bellator debut of Dakota Cochrane last year came on very short notice as he took a fight against Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy on less than seven days notice at Bellator 128.
Cochrane (18-7) took the fight against Sarnavskiy following a defeat in RFA against current UFC fighter Christos Giagos as he was defeated by TKO when Giagos landed a flying knee.
While Cochrane wanted to get the victory against Sarnavskiy, he knew that he was not quite ready for a fight. However, he accepted the fight because of the opportunity to compete in an organization like Bellator.
“Every fight you lose or win, you have to take something away or else you are not bettering yourself,” Cochrane told The MMA Report. “I guess physically my head was not quite ready to fight because I fought in RFA and took a knee. I knew in my head that I was not quite ready to fight. I took the opportunity. I knew I was not quite ready. I knew it was an opening to get into Bellator.”
With how the fight went with Sarnavskiy went, losing in the first round by submission, does Cochrane regret taking the fight?
“No, I definitely don’t. I knew it was going to be a tough battle and I kind of knew that going in,” he said. “I mentally prepared and I used it as an opening to get into Bellator I guess. I knew that I would have a second chance and I have a great camp. I am ready actually to show my skills.”
Following the defeat to Sarnavskiy, he took a fight outside of the promotion and defeated Ted Worthington by TKO in 43 seconds at DCS 12: Seasons Beatings 2014. The victory snapped a two fight losing streak and his last two victories have come by TKO/KO in the first round.
Cochrane will look for his second straight win next Friday night as he will meet Ryan Couture at Bellator 135 on Spike TV. Recently, Couture told The MMA Report that Cochrane is a tough matchup for anyone due to his fighting style. For Cochrane, he explained why he believes Couture is also a tough matchup.
“He is a very big and tall dude. He is very tough,” said Cochrane. “I think he is very mentally tough. I do not think you can ever count him out of the fight. I would say that is probably makes him the most dangerous. He is very tough and you can never count him out.”
Couture predicted that he plans to defeat Cochrane by a submission choke and Cochrane was not surprised that his opponent predicted that since he sees that as a strength of his. While Cochrane is confident that he will walk away with a victory, he doesn’t care on how the win comes as long as he is able to get the victory.
“I honestly do not care how I win. I just know that I have to go in there and get the W. Honestly do not care if it’s decision, knockout, or submission. I am just going to try to end the fight and take what he gives me.”