Fighter callouts are a regular part of the MMA news cycle, but when British Bellator lightweight Aaron Chalmers took to social media to call out Bellator heavyweight and AEW superstar Jake Hager for an openweight fight at Bellator Japan, it raised plenty of eyebrows.
MMA Junkie caught up with the British Chalmers (5-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) as he was on his way to training Thursday, and he explained that his callout, while far-fetched, was serious.
“The Jake Hager fight, for me, is a no-lose situation,” Chalmers explained. “If he beats me, what can people say? I went up four weight categories and got beat. So it’s a no-lose situation, but I honestly think if I catch him I can knock him out, I really do.”
The idea came when he and his manager chatted about Hager’s most recent fight, where the former WWE champion continued to hold on to his arm-triangle choke of T.J. Jones after the fight was stopped by the referee at Bellator 221.
The move left Chalmers disgusted.
“You see that fight where he put that choke on and wouldn’t let go? That’s just a (expletive) (expletive),” he said. “That’s just an absolute (expletive). He’s tapped, so why not just let go? Me and my agent were sitting (and talking about it) and he said: ‘I reckon you could knock him out,’ and I said: ‘You know what? I reckon I could.’ And he was like, ‘Let’s go for it.’
“At first I was laughing, saying, ‘It’s all good you’re putting me forward, because you’re not getting in the cage with him.’ Then I thought, ‘What the (expletive) have I got to lose?’ I would just treat it like an absolute street fight. That’s the way I’d have to treat it.”
Chalmers’ belief that he could beat the hulking heavyweight was only strengthened when he watched Hager’s performances so far inside the Bellator cage. Chalmers believes the pro wrestler’s aversion to the striking side of the game could play into his favor if they squared off.
“When he gets hit he kind of curls up and, put it this way, if I knock him out, everyone will be talking about it,” he said. “It may be a bit daunting getting in the cage with someone who’s 6-foot-(expletive)-7, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
The weight difference, likely to be in the region of 60-70 pounds, immediately rules out any consideration for a fight in the U.S. or anywhere else where Bellator would self-regulate using U.S. commissioners. But Japan is the one place in the world Bellator does business that could potentially accommodate such a size mismatch. That’s where Chalmers wants the fight and, despite his very public campaigning for the fight on social media, he said that nobody from Bellator has called him to shut down the idea.
“What I’ve heard through the grapevine is it hasn’t been ruled out,” he said. “They haven’t come back and said no. I’ve heard from a Bellator insider that they haven’t ruled it out, and Japan is where you put those kinds of fights on. So Dec. 29 makes perfect sense.”
Bellator has worked collaboratively with Japanese promotion Rizin, and recently announced their Bellator Japan show, which will be promoted in Japan as “Bellator vs Rizin.” Rizin operates under rules that aren’t sanctioned in the Western world, including openweight fights and a broader ruleset that permits knees and kicks, including soccer kicks, to the head a grounded opponent. Chalmers says if the opportunity was there to fight Hager (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) under the more relaxed ruleset used in Rizin, he’d be all for it.
“Well, the more artillery I’ve got in the bank the better, so if they want to add soccer kicks, then (expletive) it. So be it,” he said. “Let’s not forget, this guy is massive, so if they want to add more weapons, (expletive) let’s have it.”
Despite his enthusiastic attempts to get Hager to agree to a fight, Chalmers is fully aware of the dangers of being locked in a cage with a man with such a height, reach and weight advantage over him. Chalmers admitted that preparing for the prospect of dealing with being stuck on the canvas with Hager would be almost impossible.
“My cousin is a heavyweight boxer, so that’s one option,” said. “He’s 6-foot-4 and 19 stone (266 pounds), so that would be one good spar,” he said. “As for ground work, I’ve got no idea. If he gets me on the floor, then I’m (expletive). To prepare on the floor is impossible. If he gets on top of me, obviously I’m in trouble.”
Other than a solitary tweet featuring a photo of a child who was too small to ride on a fairground ride (which Chalmers laughed at when I described it to him), Hager has so far steered clear from addressing Chalmers’ repeated callouts. Ultimately, the Brit said it will be down to Bellator to agree to host the fight and to send a bout offer to the American. Then the ball would be firmly in Hager’s court to accept the fight or, in Chalmers view, be ridiculed.
“If Bellator put the fight on and he says no, he looks a bit of a loser, do you know what I mean?” he said. “Let’s be honest, at 250 pounds, if he caught me on the chin, I’d probably wake up next week. But I’m just rolling with it. If it gets put on, then (expletive) excellent. If it doesn’t, then it is what it is.”
While chasing an unlikely open-weight fight with Hager has been uppermost in Chalmers’ mind lately, he admitted that his overall goal is to just get in the cage and fight again. With his reality TV days now in the rearview mirror, he wants to be as active as possible as he continues his MMA career, starting by squeezing in one more fight this year, then fighting four times in 2020.
“I just want to get back in there,” he said. “Bellator London (on Nov. 23) is close but, if I got the nod, I’ve been training so I’d put everything into the last five weeks. I’d (expletive) love to go to Japan in December, even if it’s not the Hager fight. There’s also an event in February in Dublin, which I would love to fight on.
“My plan is to keep busy and take whatever comes my way. I would really like four (fights) in 12 months, that would be the aim. Wherever they ask me to fight, I’ll go and fight.”
Whether that next fight comes in Japan against Hager remains to be seen, but even if Bellator agreed to make the fight, Chalmers admitted he wouldn’t be surprised if Hager turned down the matchup.
“He’s got a lot more to lose than I have, put it that way,” he said. “If he got knocked out by a Bellator lightweight … Do you know what I mean?”
Aaron Chalmers on callout of Jake Hager: 'If I catch him, I can knock him out'
