Linton
Vassell thinks he can squeeze a little more juice out of his
talent.
The soon-to-be 39-year-old Englishman will look to accelerate his
upward trajectory in the
Bellator
MMA heavyweight division when he squares off with
Timothy
Johnson in a
Bellator 277 showcase on Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose,
California. Vassell enters the cage with a four-fight winning
streak in tow. He last competed at Bellator 271, where he eked out
a split decision over
Tyrell
Fortune in a contentious Nov. 12 pairing.
As Vassell pores over the remaining details associated with his
clash opposite Johnson, here are five things you might not know
about him:
1. Better late than never could be his motto.
Vassell did not start his formal mixed martial arts training until
the age of 23 and recorded his first professional victory after
just six months in the gym. He submitted
Chris Greig
with a rear-naked choke 3:19 into their FX3 Fight Night 9 pairing
on Sept. 13, 2008.
2. If he played baseball, he might carry the dreaded ‘Quad-A’
distinction.
“The Swarm” has held titles in the Ultimate Challenge MMA and
Olympian MMA Championships organizations. However, Vassell has
failed in two attempts to capture Bellator gold: He submitted to a
fifth-round rear-naked choke from
Emanuel
Newton in an unsuccessful bid to claim the light heavyweight
crown at Bellator 130 on Oct. 24, 2014 and succumbed to
second-round punches from
Ryan Bader in
another fruitless pass at the 205-pund championship at Bellator 186
on Nov. 3, 2017.
3. He has been an equal-opportunity finisher.
Vassell owns eight wins by knockout or technical knockout and eight
more by submission.
Ronny
Markes,
Sergei
Kharitonov,
Liam
McGeary,
Rameau
Thierry Sokoudjou,
Virgil
Zwicker and
Zelg
Galesic highlight his long list of victims.
4. He avoids shortcuts.
The Milton Keynes, England, native now operates out of the revered
Sanford MMA camp, where he trains under Henri Hooft, Greg Jones
and
Sean
Soriano. Located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the academy has
been home to a who’s who of MMA stars, from
Robbie
Lawler and
Rory
MacDonald to
Gilbert
Burns,
Derek
Brunson and
Anthony
Johnson.
5. Availability has been a selling point.
Vassell has fought at least once in each of the last 14 calendar
years, and he has made multiple appearances in 11 of those years.
The lone exceptions were 2018, 2020 and 2021.