UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Bellator president Scott Coker thinks it will take a lot to dethrone newly crowned welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov.
Amosov (26-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) picked up a dominant unanimous decision win to capture the title from Douglas Lima (32-8 MMA, 14-4 BMMA) on Friday in the main event of Bellator 260, using his wrestling to control the fight.
Coker had nothing but praise for the undefeated Ukrainian, who was able to pick up a clear-cut decision over one of Bellator’s main staples.
“I think that anybody that wants to compete in the welterweight division better have a complete game, and they better be able to wrestle, and Amosov is very good at wrestling,” Coker told reporters at the Bellator 260 post-fight news conference. “Dan Lambert told me he’s the best wrestler at (American Top Team) when I was there last week, and he proved it tonight.”
He continued, “I think it’s not just the wrestling, because if it was only the wrestling, I think Douglas could have maybe had an answer just for the wrestling part. But because he’s worried about getting punched, he’s worried about getting kicked, he’s worried about getting taken down, I think it threw him off, and Amosov has a complete game, and that’s really what MMA is today. You can’t just be good at one or two. You better have it all. His transitions were amazing tonight, and he was very smooth, and he did what he had to do.”
Amosov said after his win that he wants his first title defense to be against Jason Jackson, who defeated Paul Daley on the same night, Coker would like to assess the landscape at 170 pounds before deciding who’s next.
“I want to go back and talk to the fight team and figure that out,” Coker said. “But listen, there’s Neiman Gracie out there, too, Jackson, you got MVP, you got Lima, you got Amosov. We got a great division there, so we like to go back and reshuffle the deck, and let’s see how the rankings come out on Monday.”
Scott Coker: Bellator welterweights ‘better have a complete game’ for new champ Yaroslav Amosov
