Bellator: Bobby Lashley talks this Friday fight with Dan Charles

The following is from a third party.

Bobby Lashley came on Submission Radio to discuss his Bellator 138 return:
 

Official Prediction for fight against Dan Charles at Bellator 138

“I think it will be second round ground and pound.”

Story behind Lashley hurting his knee during a bank robbery stopping him from trying to make the Olympic games

“It was a crazy story, it was a crazy li’l time. I mean I was actually just going into the bank to deposit some money, and these guys came in and kicked the door down and they actually shot at me. My back was turned, but I just saw everybody from the front kinda ducking down and screaming and diving, so I took a dive, landed on the floor and it busted my knee open. And at that point I had to have two surgeries after it, and that potentially just ended my amateur wrestling career.”

On being one of the few pro wrestlers who made the switch to MMA and followed his dreams

“Well it’s one of those things where you can’t do half-assed. Either you gotta just go in full board and get it, or you gotta stay out. So I know some of the guys that are big fans, they do some Jiu Jitsu, they may hit the mitts and stuff like that, but they know what kind of dedication it needs, and some of the guys are still kind of questioning it right now. So I think we might have a few other guys jump across board and try a fight or two. I’m happy for Punk and I’m happy for anybody else who wants to do it. You only live once and you only have a short window to do what you want to do. So if they want to do it they gotta do it quick.”

Thoughts on James Thompson pulling out of their fight and the fight being cancelled for a second time in a 4 month period

“Dude, I knew it. I was talking to somebody beforehand and I was like “man, you know as much as I want to fight him…..”. First of all, I was surprised that he took the fight in the first place. The first time, I don’t think the fight was really scheduled. It was just one of those things where they wanted it to happen. I wasn’t ready for it. I’d injured my hand earlier in the year so the fight wasn’t really been scheduled. So when the fight didn’t come to fruition at the end, it was kind of one of those things where I had to take the heat for it – which I don’t mind doing. This time on the other hand, he signed the contract, I signed the contract, everything was ready to go, but I was super surprised that he took it in the first place. Because we fought before, and the first time I felt I beat him up pretty bad. And I was like “I can’t believe he wants to take that ass whopping again”. And then I was like “well when’s the time?”. I was just pulling for the time for him to drop out. And sure enough he dropped out.”

“I was training for him, and then with the opponent change it kinda sucks a little bit. Because when you go into camp, for me, I don’t super study my opponent. You know? But I knew it was going to be James Thompson, so I knew what to expect from it. I knew he was going to come in there real heavy, he’s going to charge, he’s going to try to hold [me], he’s going to try and weigh on me and everything like that. So we based our camp completely around him. So now with the new guy coming in, I mean the guy’s good. He’s got a 9-2 record, but he’s gonna be a little lighter, he’s gonna be a little quicker, he’s gonna be a different fighter. It’s a different opponent. A lot of times you come in there and say, look the guy took it last minute but I took it last minute also because it’s a completely different opponent than we trained for in the past five to six weeks. So I don’t mind it. You know, I’m ready, and I told them that I’m ready. So when they changed the opponent I was like “put somebody else in there and lets go”. ‘Cause going into training camp, you put a lot into training camp. The last thing that I want to do is like back out of a fight now.”

If James Thompson is someone that Lashley wants to rematch regardless

“I want to, but it has to happen. You know, Bellator wants it to happen and I know a lot of fans are kinda excited about it happening. It’s gotta happen. And I know he’s not hurt. I know he’s not hurt. I don’t know what his case is, I don’t know what the situation is, but I know he can go out there and he can take the fight. So hopefully after this fight I’m gonna try to call him out right away. If this fight goes the way I plan for it to go, I’m gonna call him out right away and say “hey, no disrespect, but I want you to get your ass out here and fight”. We gotta have that fight, because there’s a lot of speculation – I mean a lot of people watched the fight and it’s torn.  Most of the people say I won, but at the end of the fight they raised his hand. So let’s fix that. Let’s see who really won.”

“Hopefully we can fight in July. I know they got fight cards coming out there every month with Bellator, and I’m gonna stay in camp just in case the opportunity comes up. You know, people get hurt all the time, so I’m gonna stay ready. So hopefully he can get back. Maybe he can take some rehab time and be ready for July. If he does, then that’s when we are going to fight.”

If training for a completely different fighter is a concern for Bobby

“Everything is kind of a concern. You know, I’m not really worried about it to the point where “oh I’m worried about the guy”. Everything is going to be a concern because it’s a fight. And when you’re a heavyweight, 200 plus pounds, slinging leather, anything can happen. So I’m gonna be cautious out there of course, but I just had such a good training camp and I feel better than I felt in a long time. So I don’t think he’s gonna be ready for the kind of pressure that I’ll be bringing in this fight.”

On Lashley feels more pressure to have a dominant performance in this fight because he’s fighting a lesser known opponent

“No, ’cause that’s every one of my fights. Every one of my fights going in. Even if they’re a bigger name than me. Most of the guys that I fight have more to gain. So it is kind of one of those deals, where when they come out and fight me – yeah it really doesn’t matter if the guys are higher ranked than me, if they have a better record. It doesn’t matter. It seems like every time I’m put in the same position, where they have more to gain and I have a lot to lose. So it doesn’t really matter. I don’t even look at it that way anymore. I kind of erased that out of my mind and just think “hey, it’s a fight, and this is a fighter and it’s a heavyweight fighter, so anything can happen”. So I just gotta train hard and go out there and stick to the game plan.”

On if Lashley would be open to a potential Kimbo Slice fight in the future, despite both being from American Top Team?

Yeah, you know business is business and he understands it. He gets it all. So how I look at it, I mean some people would never do it. For me, I’m a little different. I mean at the end of the day we’re all out here trying to feed our families, and if that’s a good fight and that’s a fight that they want, I’m up for it.”

 “You know it’s gonna be one of those fights where I’m gonna shake his hand before and I’m gonna shake his hand afterwards, but I really don’t see it happening to tell you the truth. But you never know. You never know what’s going to happen next. Depends on I guess a lot of different factors. But you never know, never know. I’m willing. I’ll pretty much do anything that they need me to do right now.”