LONDON – The Bellator Europe 6 co-main event was close.
When the dust settled, Fabian Edwards had his hand raised after a three-round bout with Mike Shipman. However, not everyone agreed with the decision. The consensus among fans and media was the same as among the judges: split.
After the fight, Shipman (13-3 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) emphasized his frustrations not only with the judging, but with himself. According to Shipman, he believed he had a comfortable lead in the fight in the third round. As a result, he “coasted” instead of pressing the action.
“Yeah, obviously I’m going to have a biased opinion,” Shipman told MMA Junkie. “I need to watch the tape back. I thought I had won the fight. In the third round, I took my foot off the gas because I thought I won it. I coasted the third round, so (expletive) me for doing that.”
Third-round mental lapses aside, Shipman was unhappy with his performance altogether. If he did certain things differently, Shipman believes the fight would have gone his way even under these circumstances.
“I wasn’t totally happy with my performance,” Shipman said. “I should have done more damage in certain spots and taken advantage of the dominant positions I had. But I do think I did enough. But that’s the game.”
One judge, Ben Cartlidge, scored the contest 30-27 in favor of Edwards (9-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) – an outrageous ruling in the eyes of Shipman.
“I don’t understand the 30-27. I don’t understand what fight they were watching,” Shipman said. “But again, but I don’t want to be going to the judges anyways. And if I am going to the judges, I want a bloody mess in front of me.”
The war of words between rivals Shipman and Edwards was well-documented entering Bellator Europe 6. The two fighters have not liked each other since their days competing on the regional scene for BAMMA. After the fight, Shipman put the bad blood aside and commended Edwards on the victory.
“Credit to Fabian as well,” Shipman said. “Obviously as you all know, I don’t like the guy. But he did show he’s the real deal. He’s a real fighter. He went out and tried to push the pace, tried to win the fight. I don’t think he did, but obviously two of them saw differently.”
Bellator Europe 6 took place Saturday at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London. The card streamed on MMA Junkie.
Check out MMA Junkie’s full Bellator Europe 6 post-fight interview with Mike Shipman in the video above.
Mike Shipman disappointed with Bellator Europe 6 judging; calls Fabian Edwards 'real deal'