Raufeon Stots doesn’t think he was in the ideal circumstances to win the Bellator bantamweight grand prix this past April.
Stots lost his Bellator interim title and the opportunity to crown himself winner of the 135-pound bantamweight tournament that the promotion launched last year, as he was quickly knocked out by Patchy Mix in the main event of Bellator 295.
Although Stots (19-2 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) respects Mix, he’s convinced he didn’t enter 100 percent into the cage, as he fainted during his weight cut prior to the fight.
“I’m hoping that I can have my rematch against Patchy,” Stots told MMA Junkie Radio. “I feel like I went into that fight not compromised, but knowing something I didn’t know before. I messed up in my nutrition the last two camps. I didn’t know that I was doing it to myself. I wasn’t eating all that I needed to be eating. My weight cut suffered because of it, and I passed out because of the weight cut.
“I would like the chance to fight him again. Not saying that’s the reason he won, but I know I would be able to attack the fight differently. … That one left a kind of sour taste in my mouth because I feel like I wasn’t able to truly fight and see where I’m at with Patchy. That’s kind of where my head is at.”
Stots, who returns to the cage against Danny Sabatello (14-3 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) on Nov. 11 at Bellator 301, says he changed his meal preparation company two fights ago and was having issues with his performance.
He said the meal preparation company was fine, but it was he who wasn’t doing the things he was instructed to do to be in optimal shape.
“It was purely my fault,” Mix explained. “I would eat three (meals), and then I would be full, but I was supposed to be supplementing that with protein and other food. It was clearly laid out for me in the layout they sent me. It was on me.
“Every day, I would not eat the fourth meal just because I ate in the morning, I ate in the day, and I ate at night. … On my low days, I would feel kind of depleted and that would affect my training. I wasn’t eating all the meals I should eat, and I wasn’t supplementing the way I was supposed to be. … I just wasn’t doing any of that and that was purely my fault. … I’m a person who always goes the extra mile, and it just felt like it was way harder to do. And going into the weight cut, my weight was good, but then when I got all the way down – nobody knows this – but these last two weight cuts I really struggled, and I passed out before the fight.”
Stots didn’t say anything to the promotion or the commission overseeing the event in Hawaii. He felt he could still beat Mix, but he was wrong.
“We tried to keep it under wraps because I didn’t want to lose the fight and I didn’t think it was a problem,” Stots said. “I just feel like I would be able to perform better. I think it had an impact on me. It’s just something I know I can do better. Obviously, fighting skills and technique (I can do) better in the fight, but I feel like that (the weight cut) I know that I can do better. … It just so happened that it happened in these last two fights where I changed meal prep companies.”
