Raufeon Stots advice teammates Roufusport has it mentally ready for Bellator 236!

Roosterweight Raufeon Stots is ready for its big stage debut, and says it has had many seasoned professionals to ask for advice before their fight with Cheyden Leialoha on Bellator 236 on Saturday.

Stots (12-1, 0-0 BMMA) faces Dana White's former Contender Series prospect, Leialoha (7-1, 0-0 BMMA) looking to make his mark in a gallantweight division currently without a champion, after Kyoji Horiguchi gave up the Bellator's 135. pound title due to injury.

Raufeon Stots advice teammates Roufusport

And the 31-year-old revealed that his Roufusport teammates, including UFC veterans Anthony Pettis and Paul Felder, were available to give him some wise advice as he prepared for his big show.

Check out MMA Junkie's full media day interview with Stots in the video above.
Scott Coker: It would have been a "difficult road" had Rory MacDonald stayed at Bellator

Scott Coker is at peace with Bellator's departure from Rory MacDonald.

After former welterweight champion MacDonald (21-6-1 MMA, 3-2-1 BMMA) made an amazing free-agency move to the PFL earlier this week, Coker spoke publicly about the that happened for the first time.

Immediately after MacDonald's departure, Coker posted a chic farewell to social media. MacDonald claims he never received a formal offer from Bellator to stay, and while keeping the stories behind the scenes for himself, Coker offered some perspective.

"I don't want to get into negotiations and all that," Coker told MMA Junkie on Friday after the heavy ceremony for Bellator 236 in Honolulu. "This is what I will say: At the end of the day, we keep the fighters we want to keep. We think, historically, we have been successful in this. If we want to keep it on the roster, we will find a way. game, dollars come into play, and it's a value proposition at some point. Then for me, it just happened. We just said, "Listen, we wish you luck."

"I think he's a great guy and I don't want to say anything about Rory other than we had some great fights here together, he was a great teammate and now is the time for him to move on."

After a long season of UFC that saw him unsuccessfully defending the title and participating in many big fights, MacDonald moved to Bellator in early 2017. He had six fights with the organization, won the belt. At 170 pounds, he also struggled for middleweight. Strap.

The final chapter of MacDonald's Bellator career saw him defending his title through the welterweight grand prize before losing his belt to Douglas Lima in his $ 1 million rematch on Bellator 232 at l October.

It was MacDonald's final Bellator fight. He became a free agent after he lost his belt and signed an agreement with PFL. Coker said MacDonald fulfilled its contractual obligations.

"We had a certain amount of fights. We honor those fights. We honor what we said we would do," said Coker. "I have no bad feelings and I honestly wish him the best. It will be a difficult road here for him as well. So I wish him the best. He is a great fighter and he was here when we really needed to have free agents. Bellator when I came in, we signed some guys and he was willing to take the risk and come and go. He'll always be separate from Bellator's story. It's just time he struggles elsewhere. "