[autotag]Danny Sabatello[/autotag] is not sold on [autotag]Magomed Magomedov[/autotag], but sees him as his ticket to a title shot.
Sabatello (14-2 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) meets Magomedov (19-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) on Saturday’s Bellator X Rizin 2 main card, which takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event airs live on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET.
Winner of eight of his past nine, Sabatello is expecting a title shot with a win over Magomedov. But with bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis’ title unification bout with interim champ Patchy Mix yet to be booked, Sabatello will stay active if he has to.
“There’s a reason why I called out for this fight against Magomed,” Sabatello told reporters at a Bellator X Rizin 2 news conference Thursday. “First off, a lot of people think he’s good. He’s got a big name. I personally think he sucks. The good thing about this fight is that he’s one notch above me in the rankings, so I think after I get this win, I should be fighting for the belt.
“But one thing I do is I fight, and I don’t like sitting on my ass. I know Patchy and Pettis are not scheduled to fight yet. That’s probably because Pettis is milking some bullsh*t injury like he always f*cking does because he doesn’t like to fight because he’s a p*ssy. So if that fight does get booked soon, then I think I should be next in line for the title. But I am going to fight after this fight before getting that title shot if that fight doesn’t come to fruition for a while. I do like this fight. I think it catapults me to a title fight, barring Pettis being a p*ssy.”
While Sabatello would love a quick finish, he plans on dragging Magomedov to deep waters.
“I want to torture him first,” Sabatello said. “I always say that in all my fights. I don’t want to give my opponents the easy way out. Especially if they’ve been talking a little bit of trash, I need to punish them for that. I also want to put on a very good show for Tokyo.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator x Rizin 2.