Even though mixed martial arts fighter Lorenzo Hood hasn’t come out to make his mixed martial arts Bellator debut yet, he is already aiming for the top fighters in the heavyweight division. It may look like he is arrogant with what he did, but Hood said he has called out these particular fighters with a good reason.
Lorenzo Hood, who has a record of 9-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA, will go against Raphael Butler (9-1-1 MMA, 4-1-1 BMMA this coming August 28 at Bellator 141. This event will be his promotional debut in Bellator. Aside from fighting Butler, Lorenzo Hood has his eyes on fighting two top players in Bellator as soon as possible- Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and Bobby Lashley. “Kimbo Slice” has a record of 5-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA while Bobby Lashley has 13-2 MMA, 3-0 BMMA.
In a recent interview, “The Dream Killer” told MMAjunkie that he was already trying to secure a fight with “Kimbo Slice” but the former bareknuckle brawler went ahead and joined Bellator to go against Ken Shamrock earlier this year. Lorenzo Hood further said that he almost closed the deal before that booking but the negotiations did not materialize.
Lorenzo Hood said that “Kimbo Slice” made an effort to avoid the bout at all costs. This gave Hood an extra push to do better and put his best foot forward on his upcoming Bellator debut which will take place before the month ends. His bout will be aired on Spike TV main card.
“I was in discussions to fight him in North Carolina last year. I was waiting for that, and his management team – I’m guessing they were in talks with Bellator already – said they didn’t like the fight. They said if he lost the fight, he wouldn’t get signed. He kind of backed out of it, and I’ve been looking to beat him up for a while. I didn’t like the way he dodged the fight. Then he goes and he’s talking about how he’s great at this and great at that,” Hood said.
“When I wanted to fight him, I wanted to prove what I wanted to prove, and he had none of that. But now we’re in the same division, the same company, so he can’t run. They can’t hide him from me. ‘Kimbo’ is going to have to get it, and I think he knows that. I hope he’s ready because I definitely will be,” he added.
Before joining the MMA industry, Hood was a pro football player and appeared in the events of various leagues such as the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. He then had a few stints with MMA back in 2009, but he stopped for a couple of years after that. Hood returned to the octagon just last year, but this time with full commitment and 100% dedication to the sport.
Hood admitted that he worked really hard to reach the achievements and this is the reason why he is frustrated that Lashley, a pro-wrestling crossover, and “Kimbo Slice”, a former street fighter, got the chance to join Bellator and was welcomed with a huge amount of attention.
“‘Kimbo’ and Bobby Lashley are two guys that I would fight in the cage, for free, together; the world doesn’t even have to see it,” Hood said. “Those two guys didn’t pay their dues in the sport. They didn’t go through the grind and the struggle of everything we have to go through as fighters on a daily basis. Nothing against those guys – they’re great competitors – but they’ve been kind of hand-fed since they came into the sport. I want to bust them out and get them out of there,” he explained.