Derek Anderson on replay head-kick KO victory

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — At initial look Thursday night time, it appeared Derek Anderson may well have landed a fight-ending foul on his opponent in the Bellator 251 light-weight key-card opener, Killys Mota.

It appeared Anderson (17-3 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) drilled Mota (12-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) with a head kick at Mohegan Sun Arena while Mota had his left knee on the ground, which would have turned his bout into a no contest when Mota couldn’t proceed.

As an alternative, the instant replay confirmed Mota’s knee arrived off the mat correct right before Anderson’s properly placed kick landed, and he attained a first-round TKO as a result of his strike.

And to listen to Anderson explain to it, this was no surprise — he is effective on these varieties of kicks all the time, and he unquestionably had no intention of throwing a affordable shot.

“I’m very good at timing that thing and you know, I went for it, and it was a little shut, you know what I imply?” Anderson told MMA Junkie at the Bellator 251 put up-battle information conference. “But my instincts are genuine fantastic. I’m not a cheap shot, I’ve never been. I really don’t consider I seriously would have shot it if it was not there. If anything at all you enjoy he was heading back again down when he observed it coming due to the fact he was seeking to get me to low cost shot as a substitute of attempting to defend himself.”

That reported, Anderson admitted he was a little nervous all through the moments immediately after the strike and ahead of referee Mike Beltran experienced the opportunity to review the film. But he remained confident.

“Whatever they say, I will not dispute just about anything, I’m not a affordable shot but I’m not a crybaby either, so I’ll consider whatsoever is provided to me,” Anderson said. “So if they want to give me the gain I’ll take it. Hell yeah, which is what I imagined it was. But if he’s heading to be like that, act like it did not transpire and get back again up, I in no way play possum within the cage and try out to get (his opponent) disqualified. How lames that? I did not know what was going to transpire. I felt quite legal.”

With that, Anderson gained his third consecutive struggle, and fifth in his earlier 6. But he hasn’t been just about as energetic as he’d like — he’s fought once for each calendar year every single 12 months heading back to 2016 —which suggests he has not been in a position to place alongside one another the variety of momentum these a file would appear to warrant.

He hopes to get larger names subsequent time out in get to rectify the problem.

“I want top rated fellas,” Anderson mentioned. “Training camp is the toughest aspect so I want the finest fights I can find. … I want men who are recognised now so I can get my credit score.”