Raufeon Stots did what he wanted to do at Bellator 289 Friday night.
Stots defended his interim title and advanced to the finals of the grand prix with a split decision win. He will now meet Patchy Mix in 2023 for the GP title.
The lead-up to the fight was a heated one between Stots and Sabatello, and for the interim champion, this was a satisfying performance.
“I’m satisfied that I got the win, but I wanted to get that motherf*cker out of there. That’s the most satisfying given the talk he was talking,” he said. “I’m glad to be the one to shut him up for a little bit. I can sleep at night knowing that.
“I thought about that backstage. You know what? The fans not really liking him, so I’m going to give them something they’d enjoy after the fight.”
The split decision score, though, was surprising to Stots.
“I was surprised with the 50-45. I believe he was trying to control; we know that’s his game, but he did no damage. I did the things I was supposed to do,” he said. “I was progressing toward the finish, he was trying to stall the fight out. Just because you hold somebody’s legs doesn’t mean you should win a fight, and that’s how I think it should be. This is mixed martial arts.
“My coaches were giving me sense of urgency. That’s his whole game; he’s gonna try to hold me. He was good enough to get past a lot of my defenses, but ultimately, he wasn’t able to do anything with the positions and I was able to escape. I was able to reverse him or escape the majority of the time.”