Bellator 158: Francis Carmont Ready to Return to Form
Bellator 158: Francis Carmont Ready to Return to Form
Francis Carmont will be looking to get back to his winning ways at Bellator 158 in London.
By Chamatkar Sandhu
It’s been 10 months since we last saw French light heavyweight Francis Carmont fight in the Bellator cage. Looking back the Bellator light heavyweight tournament, which was part of the inaugural DYNAMITE show by the promotion last September, Carmont, who lost to Phil Davis in the final, has some regrets but would consider competing in a future one night tournament if the price was right.
“You know, fighting two times in one night I don’t believe is good but I’m a real fighter,” Carmont said. “I don’t withdraw from the fight. If it’s for a lot of money maybe, but I don’t know, let’s see.”
The long lay off was primarily due to an unspecified neck injury which may still require surgery somewhere down the road. For the time being however, the Tristar fighter says he is back to a hundred percent and raring to go.
“It’s a long time I took off,” Carmont said. “I had a neck injury so I took time off to see a doctor so I could come back healthy. I don’t know if it requires surgery but I saw the doctor and he told me to take a couple of months off and now I feel very good.”
Carmont has fought at both 185 and 205-pounds in the past, and although he can still make the middleweight limit, he’d like to concern himself more with the task at hand rather than the arduous process of cutting weight leading up to fight night.
With a much easier cut at light heavyweight, he feels it will give him the time required to focus everything on his next opponent, Lukasz Klinger.
“It’s possible for me to make the weight at 185-pounds but I don’t want to focus on the weight, I want to focus on the fight,” says Carmont. “When you focus on your weight it’s like your fighting seven times out of seven days. You don’t feel good or get in good training when you are focused on losing the weight and not on the fight. This time I want to make a difference. I want to focus on my fight all the time. This is why I fight at 205.”
Carmont was expected to fight Linton Vassell at Bellator 158; however the British light heavyweight was forced to pull out due to a cut over his left which wouldn’t heal in time. Although Klinger is stepping in on short notice, Carmont hasn’t ruled out a fight with Vassell somewhere down the road.
“I don’t focus on the opponent, I focus on me, a good fight and that’s it," Carmont said. "Maybe I’ll fight Linton Vassell another time. He’s a good opponent, we will see next time. They (Bellator) called me and said we have Lukasz and I said yes. I know he has seven wins and two losses but you can’t care about the record, you have to take care of the guy. I will do my maximum to give a big performance.”
With just a few weeks to prepare for a totally different fighter, Carmont says where there was a tendency to overthink his opponents in the past; he’s now shifted his focus on what he’s able to do.
“I don’t change nothing, I just focus on my game,” Carmont said. “I don’t watch tape of past fights. I just want to go with my feeling and with my style and that’s it. In the past I used to think a lot about my fights but this time I have nothing in my head. Just go in there and win.”
One thing the Frenchman has always had in his favor is the ability to train with one of the best fighters of all time, Georges St-Pierre. With GSP recently going through a test camp and hoping to make his own return to the UFC Octagon, the timing couldn’t have worked out better for Carmont who has the ability to train with the former UFC welterweight champion on a full time schedule again.
“For me Georges is my friend and training with him is good for me,” Carmont said. “He is a big champion in MMA and one of the best fighters in the world. He offers good advice. It’s big for me. I’m so happy to be able to train with him and a big gym like Tristar.”
GSP has recently said he could fight as a low as a lightweight and as big as a middleweight upon his return. Although he thinks St-Pierre could do well in either weight class, Carmont suggests that perhaps staying at the weight class he dominated for years would be the best thing for him.
"It's better to stay at his natural weight, but Georges is very intelligent, very smart," Carmont said. "I know if he came back to fight for one or two fights he would do his maximum to win. He could fight at middleweight or lightweight and it would be a big problem for other guys in the world.”
It’s been 10 months since we last saw French light heavyweight Francis Carmont fight in the Bellator cage. Looking back the Bellator light heavyweight tournament, which was part of the inaugural DYNAMITE show by the promotion last September, Carmont, who lost to Phil Davis in the final, has some regrets but would consider competing in a future one night tournament if the price was right.
“You know, fighting two times in one night I don’t believe is good but I’m a real fighter,” Carmont said. “I don’t withdraw from the fight. If it’s for a lot of money maybe, but I don’t know, let’s see.”
The long lay off was primarily due to an unspecified neck injury which may still require surgery somewhere down the road. For the time being however, the Tristar fighter says he is back to a hundred percent and raring to go.
“It’s a long time I took off,” Carmont said. “I had a neck injury so I took time off to see a doctor so I could come back healthy. I don’t know if it requires surgery but I saw the doctor and he told me to take a couple of months off and now I feel very good.”
Carmont has fought at both 185 and 205-pounds in the past, and although he can still make the middleweight limit, he’d like to concern himself more with the task at hand rather than the arduous process of cutting weight leading up to fight night.
With a much easier cut at light heavyweight, he feels it will give him the time required to focus everything on his next opponent, Lukasz Klinger.
“It’s possible for me to make the weight at 185-pounds but I don’t want to focus on the weight, I want to focus on the fight,” says Carmont. “When you focus on your weight it’s like your fighting seven times out of seven days. You don’t feel good or get in good training when you are focused on losing the weight and not on the fight. This time I want to make a difference. I want to focus on my fight all the time. This is why I fight at 205.”
Carmont was expected to fight Linton Vassell at Bellator 158; however the British light heavyweight was forced to pull out due to a cut over his left which wouldn’t heal in time. Although Klinger is stepping in on short notice, Carmont hasn’t ruled out a fight with Vassell somewhere down the road.
“I don’t focus on the opponent, I focus on me, a good fight and that’s it," Carmont said. "Maybe I’ll fight Linton Vassell another time. He’s a good opponent, we will see next time. They (Bellator) called me and said we have Lukasz and I said yes. I know he has seven wins and two losses but you can’t care about the record, you have to take care of the guy. I will do my maximum to give a big performance.”
With just a few weeks to prepare for a totally different fighter, Carmont says where there was a tendency to overthink his opponents in the past; he’s now shifted his focus on what he’s able to do.
“I don’t change nothing, I just focus on my game,” Carmont said. “I don’t watch tape of past fights. I just want to go with my feeling and with my style and that’s it. In the past I used to think a lot about my fights but this time I have nothing in my head. Just go in there and win.”
One thing the Frenchman has always had in his favor is the ability to train with one of the best fighters of all time, Georges St-Pierre. With GSP recently going through a test camp and hoping to make his own return to the UFC Octagon, the timing couldn’t have worked out better for Carmont who has the ability to train with the former UFC welterweight champion on a full time schedule again.
“For me Georges is my friend and training with him is good for me,” Carmont said. “He is a big champion in MMA and one of the best fighters in the world. He offers good advice. It’s big for me. I’m so happy to be able to train with him and a big gym like Tristar.”
GSP has recently said he could fight as a low as a lightweight and as big as a middleweight upon his return. Although he thinks St-Pierre could do well in either weight class, Carmont suggests that perhaps staying at the weight class he dominated for years would be the best thing for him.
"It's better to stay at his natural weight, but Georges is very intelligent, very smart," Carmont said. "I know if he came back to fight for one or two fights he would do his maximum to win. He could fight at middleweight or lightweight and it would be a big problem for other guys in the world.”