Gegard Mousasi on returning to Dublin, Austin Vanderford & boxing Anderson Silva

At Bellator 275 Gegard Mousasi will look to defend his Middleweight title for a second time. This will be his third time fighting in Ireland, his second in Dublin. His last visit to Dublin was all the way back in 2005 against John Donnelly at Rings: Bushido Ireland. Mousasi had only seven fights prior to this, meanwhile Donnelly was making only his second walk as a pro. Mousasi came out on top on the night and has gone on to have a legendary career since

Speaking at the Bellator media day he recalled his previous fights in Ireland and his excitement to be in Dublin again.

“I’ve been here before, I’ve fought twice already in Ireland and I’m excited to be here. Nice people here, very friendly and they are big fighting fans. I hope to perform well. I think the crowd will be on my side, but I don’t think competing here previously is an advantage.”

Mousasi is aware of the challenge ahead and that Vanderford is the better wrestler but believes that God gave him special powers for this fight.

“He’s an undefeated, 11-0 guy who is younger than me. He’s confident, he feels he has something to prove, he’s fighting for the belt. I think I have a big task ahead of me. But my coaches told me I have never been stronger, God gave me special powers for this fight, and Austin’s going to feel it.”

“Against the cage it’s possible I try to take him down, but he is a better wrestler than me. If I try to take him down and waste a lot of energy, that’s not very smart. I don’t need to try to take him down because he’s going to try and take me down the whole time. I just have to stuff a couple of them, then I will end up on top. My ground and pound is much better than his, that I know for sure. He’s in trouble.”

Looking back at previous fights against grappling heavy styles, he believes he has learned a lot and highlighted the Weidman fight as one where he won despite being taken down by a wrestler.

“Fighting for so long I have learned a lot. When I fought Lovato Jr. I respected his jiu-jitsu too much, with King Mo, he was too strong, so I stayed down on the ground too long. When Chris Weidman took me down, I got up every single time.”

The Dutch fighter also expressed a willingness to fight Anderson Silva in boxing if the Brazilian was willing to oblige.

“We were aiming for Anderson Silva because Showtime and boxing and he was boxing. So I want to do something different. I don’t know, I want to do it but it’s up to them.