Brennan Ward thinks there’s no pressure on his shoulders going into Friday’s Bellator 298 headliner, while Logan Storley has everything to lose.
Ward (17-6 MMA, 12-6 BMMA) will compete in his fourth fight since returning from a nearly five-year MMA hiatus this weekend when he meets former interim welterweight champ Storley (14-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) in a five-round fight at Sandford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The event streams on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
The 35-year-old is 3-0 since making his comeback to competition, scoring second-round knockouts of Sabah Homasi, Kassius Kayne and Brandon Bell. That earned him this main event slot, and he’s ready to let loose in the cage in a situation that is purely upside for him.
“He’s can’t lose to me,” Ward told MMA Junkie. “I’m ranked No. 8. If he loses to me, his time on top is done. He’s not going to beat the No. 4 guy. He won’t beat the No. 10 guy in our weight. I think Sabah would knock him out. He has to beat me to stay on top. For me, I don’t have to win. I don’t have to win sh*t. I’m 35 years old. I’m going out there to bomb. I don’t care. I’m f*cking you up, though. What’s up?”
Ward’s time away from the sport included a tumultuous period that included addiction and other hardships. He got past it, though, and has returned in arguably better form than ever.
His focus as this stage is unflappable, and although Storley is arguably the hardest fight of his career on paper, he knows he won’t be going in there unprepared.
“As long as it’s entertaining, at this point in my career, as long as it’s a good show, obviously you’ve got to win, but a fight like that, even if you take an L, a fight like that people remember,” Ward said. “This fight ain’t leaving the second. You could schedule it for a 20-round fight, it doesn’t matter. It’s not leaving Round 2. That’s how it is. So I train accordingly. … You ain’t going to see me gas out. You ain’t going to see me slow down. I train pedal to the metal every single day. I push myself beyond exhaustion so I make sure I can go f*cking full throttle the whole time.”
After making his Bellator debut in November 2012, Ward is thriving with the promotion more than 10 years later. His nine knockouts in Bellator competition trail only Patricky Freire and Michael Page all-time in company history, and he’ll be looking to add another one to the reel against Storley.
“I hope he wants to go out there and trade,” Ward said. “I don’t want to f*cking have to wrestle his b*tch-ass for 25 minutes. F*ck that sh*t. Come up. Try to catch it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 298.
