Logan Storley sees his first main event as the perfect preparation for a title fight.
Storley (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) will headline the promotion’s first five-round non-title fight when he meets Neiman Gracie (11-2 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) at Bellator 274 on Feb. 19, and the standout wrestler expects big stakes out of this matchup.
“I think it’s good for practice for that title shot,” Storley told MMA Junkie. “To get in these moments not just practice, but real life competition and have you go five rounds if we have to and the training camp was different, kind of preparing for those last two rounds. Things like that you’re going to have that – this is what I got in the fight game for was to be world champ, and in order to be world champ, sometimes you’ve got to go all five rounds. So I think it’s a good stepping block, and this is going to be a great fight.”
With his decorated wrestling background and Gracie’s jiu-jitsu accolades, Storley can see this fight primarily playing out the feet, but also knows there will be opportunities for him to control Gracie on the ground.
“He’s just like me,” Storley said. “We both started in grappling our whole lives. He’s been doing BJJ forever. I’ve been doing wrestling since I was 5, and hundreds and hundreds of competitions that mostly involves grappling. But he’s evolving, and so am I. I know that, he knows that, and so you prepare for everyone that they’re dangerous everywhere.
“It’s what’s going to be the best way for me to win this fight, really. It’s the same for him, I guess, so I think maybe we’ll see more of a standup fight from both of us because we both know that obviously he’s very slick on the ground, one of the best. I know how slick he is watching his fights, and he’s tricky. He sets traps and puts you in places you don’t want to be. But I also know that Rory (MacDonald) and Jason (Jackson) did a good job of getting him tired and winning those positions, and he knows I’m heavy on top. So if I get to those positions, it’s going to be really hard to get up and to move me.”
