Steve Mowry makes bold prediction after Bellator 231: My name will be synonymous with best of all time
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Still undefeated, Steve Mowry is vowing to leave his mark on the sport.
Mowry (7-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) improved to a perfect 7-0 Friday when he submitted Gokhan Saricam with a second-round kimura at Bellator 231. It was his fifth career submission win.
Prior to the fight, Mowry thought he was getting close to title contention. Now he’s confident that while he’s still improving, he will one day be considered one of the greatest fighters in the sport.
“Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but there’s going to be a time when Steve Mowry’s name is synonymous with one of the best of all time,” Mowry said after the fight at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
After getting tagged up a little bit on the feet, Mowry reverted back to his grappling and took the fight to the canvas. He was able to drag the fight back to the mat again in Round 2 and eventually secured the submission finish.
While he may not have gotten the chance to test his striking like he wanted to, Mowry knows it’s still a learning process for him.
“I really wanted to test myself in the standup,” Mowry said. “I fight good strikers. I take them down. I submit them. So I’d tell you, if I fight a good grappler, I’m going to put hands on him. Hat’s off to him – he came in and did everything he thought he could do to get a victory. I felt like I was a step better. I’m sure he’s a good kickboxer, and he’s a good boxer. Obviously he did good work whenever we were on the feet.
“Sean Soriano, one of my mentors, one of the striking coaches at the gym, I told him, ‘I swear to God, maybe not this fight, maybe not the next fight, but I swear to God it’s going to come together.’ I’m going to learn to punch and kick people effectively, and I’m going to beat people up, and it’s going to happen. I’m going to be a complete MMA fighter. I promise you guys.”
After Friday’s win, Mowry is one step closer to his title hopes and will be keeping an eye on how the rest of the division plays out.
“There’s a lot going on in the heavyweight division, especially with Bellator,” Mowry said. “We have a lot of up-and-coming guys fighting each other, and then obviously we have the distinguished, established heavyweights duking it out with each other. So it’ll be really interesting, especially after today (and Saturday’s) events, to see like where the dust settles and where everybody falls into place.”
