LONDON – [autotag]Soren Bak[/autotag] made a victorious start to life as a Bellator fighter, then threw a little shade at his opponent’s mat skills during the post-fight press conference.
Former two-division Cage Warriors champion Bak (14-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) defeated former two-weight BAMMA champion [autotag]Terry Brazier[/autotag] via unanimous decision at Bellator Europe 6 after three grueling rounds with the Londoner at the SSE Arena.
Bak’s grinding performance didn’t win him too many fans among the London crowd, most of whom were cheering on local boy Brazier (11-3 MMA, 1-2 BMMA). And Brazier’s frustration was there for all to see when he shouted “Boring, mother (expletive)” into the microphone on his way out of the cage.
Bak said he understood the frustration, but attributed it to the Englishman’s inability to hang with him on the ground.
“He’s welcome to come to CSA (Bak’s team in Copenhagen) and I’ll personally teach him some wrestling, maybe a few get-ups, I don’t know. It seems like he’d need it,” he said.
“I kinda get it, because the home crowd, they want to see their guy win. But sadly, if your get-ups are doing ground and pound from the bottom, you’re not going to get anywhere, and that’s kinda what we showed… It’s so frustrating not being able to get up when that’s what you want to do. I also feel I had the fight standing up, too.”
Bak played the role of out-of-town spoiler as he strode down the ramp, holding his trademark ax, and claimed the scalp of a local hero. He did the same in his last fight for Cage Warriors, when he defeated Paddy Pimblett for the promotion’s lightweight title in Liverpool.
“I kind of feed on it, I love it,” he admitted. “I could do without the beer throwing in Liverpool, but there was none of that here, it was just booing. I can live with that.”
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Bak’s performance gave him a clear victory on his Bellator debut and the 27-year-old said he was pleased in his new MMA home.
“I’m happy, definitely,” he said. “You kinda get used to things being in one promotion for such a long time, as I was with Cage Warriors. Obviously, there’s a few changes when you move to an organization like Bellator. So it’s just a bit of adjustment and I think it will be perfect next time.”
And now he’s settled with Bellator and has his first win for the promotion under his belt, Bak said he’s ready to take on the very best the Bellator matchmakers can throw at him.
“My gameplan for this career has always been to take the toughest opponent who wants to fight me, and I’m going to keep doing that, because that’s the way to get to the top.” he said.
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