UNCASVILLE, Conn. – After pulling off a major upset of unbeaten former champion Vitaly Minakov on Saturday night, Cheick Kongo brought a short, but clear message to his post-fight news conference.
Kongo wants dual champion Ryan Bader to simply hand over the heavyweight title to him, and that way he can avoid fighting him.
“I had a great performance and I just beat the undefeated (former) champion, Vitaly Minakov,” Kongo said after the fight. “So the question is: Where’s my belt? Somebody used to hold my belt. The belt wasn’t made with heavyweights, but just light heavyweights.
“So I want to say something clear: Ryan, wherever you are, just come to give me the belt so I can make it easy for you. If not, I will (expletive) you up.”
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Minakov (21-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) was nearly a 6-1 favorite against Kongo (30-10-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) in their rematch. They first fought in 2014 when Minakov was Bellator’s heavyweight champion. But after his unanimous decision win, Minakov never again defended the Bellator belt.
Eventually, he was stripped of it, and in January Bader became the new champion with a win in the heavyweight tournament. So as far as Kongo is concerned, Minakov never lost the belt – and he just beat him. So that should make the math pretty easy.
Bellator 216 took place Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card streamed on DAZN following prelims on MMAjunkie.
After the fight, Bellator President Scott Coker reiterated that Kongo became Bader’s first heavyweight title challenger with the win. But Kongo is taking that with a grain of salt because for years, he kept winning – and Bellator kept the title vacant, and then Kongo didn’t get an invitation to the tournament. Instead, four light heavyweights had spots in the field, including Bader, who also is the 205-pound champ.
“I’m just a little bit tired and just frustrated,” Kongo said. “Today, (Coker) is (saying I’m the No. 1 contender). But four years ago, when I used to perform at the same time, I didn’t get the time so the title needs to be vacant. And Bader, just come, please, or I will (expletive) you up for real.”
Check out Kongo’s brief post-fight news conference in the video above.
For complete coverage of Bellator 216, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
