Bellator 268 winner Lance Gibson Jr. hopes to enter rankings after TKO win over Raymond Pina

PHOENIX – Lance Gibson Jr. thinks he’s done enough to earn a spot in the rankings.

Gibson (5-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) remained unbeaten when he scored a second-round TKO of Raymond Pina on Saturday at Bellator 268 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

The 26-year-old has finished four of his five pro wins and hopes to have a number next to his name once Bellator updates its lightweight standings.

“I’d like to be ranked,” Gibson said. “I’d like to be ranked in the top 10. At the end of the day, I’m focused on me and what I need to do. But I do believe with that finish, I should be ranked in the top 10 for sure.”

Gibson talked reporters through his finish, in which he was able to fend off three-time state wrestling champion Pina’s heavy-grapple approach.

“That was part of my game plan, actually, to let him waste his energy because we knew he was going to come in heavy wrestling – and he wasted his energy,” Gibson said. “He was winded even in the first round. So once I got back up and landed a couple of knees to the body, it sucked his wind out. Then I knew by the time we hit back on the ground at the end of the first, he was swinging heavy but he was going to be tired. Second round, his standup was shaky. He wasn’t confident in his striking. Then I knew a bad shot was going to come, and that’s when I timed my knee.”

You can watch Gibson’s entire post-fight interview in the video above.