UNCASVILLE, Conn. — At first glance Thursday night, it appeared Derek Anderson might have landed a fight-ending foul on his opponent in the Bellator 251 lightweight main-card opener, Killys Mota.
It appeared Anderson (17-3 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) drilled Mota (12-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) with a head kick at Mohegan Sun Arena while Mota had his left knee on the ground, which would have turned his bout into a no contest when Mota couldn’t continue.
Instead, the instant replay showed Mota’s knee came off the mat right before Anderson’s perfectly placed kick landed, and he earned a first-round TKO as a result of his strike.
And to hear Anderson tell it, this was no surprise — he works on these types of kicks all the time, and he certainly had no intention of throwing a cheap shot.
“I’m good at timing that thing and you know, I went for it, and it was a little close, you know what I mean?” Anderson told MMA Junkie at the Bellator 251 post-fight news conference. “But my instincts are real good. I’m not a cheap shot, I’ve never been. I don’t think I really would have shot it if it wasn’t there. If anything you watch he was going back down when he saw it coming because he was trying to get me to cheap shot instead of trying to defend himself.”
That said, Anderson admitted he was a little nervous during the moments after the strike and before referee Mike Beltran had the opportunity to review the film. But he remained confident.
“Whatever they say, I won’t dispute anything, I’m not a cheap shot but I’m not a crybaby either, so I’ll take whatever is given to me,” Anderson said. “So if they want to give me the win I’ll take it. Hell yeah, that’s what I imagined it was. But if he’s going to be like that, act like it didn’t happen and get back up, I never play possum inside the cage and try to get (his opponent) disqualified. How lames that? I didn’t know what was going to happen. I felt pretty legal.”
With that, Anderson won his third consecutive fight, and fifth in his past six. But he hasn’t been nearly as active as he’d like — he’s fought once per year every year going back to 2016 —which means he hasn’t been able to put together the type of momentum such a record would seem to warrant.
He hopes to get bigger names next time out in order to rectify the situation.
“I want top guys,” Anderson said. “Training camp is the hardest part so I want the best fights I can find. … I want guys who are known already so I can get my credit.”
Bellator 251’s Derek Anderson on near-foul head kick: ‘I’m not a cheap shot’
