Bellator 182 winner Fernando Gonzalez wants eventual title shot, but knows weight comes first

VERONA, N.Y. – Fernando Gonzalez moved to an impressive 7-1 in Bellator this past Friday night, and got arguably his biggest win yet in the welterweight division.

And while his third-round guillotine choke submission of Brennan Ward (14-6 MMA, 9-6 BMMA) might normally have him asking for a welterweight title shot, Gonzalez (27-14 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) knows he might have to pump the brakes on that just a little thanks to a continued issue with the scale.

Gonzalez took out Ward in the Bellator 182 co-main event at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y. The main card aired on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie. But the day before, even though the fight was scheduled when it was booked to be at a 178-pound catchweight, Gonzalez couldn’t hit even that number, let alone the 170 he’d be required to make in a title fight. Against Brandon Girtz prior to the Ward fight, he missed weight, as well. (He fought at middleweight and light heavyweight earlier in his career.)

“There’s one thing that I have to prove to everybody, and that’s that I can make the weight,” Gonzalez told MMAjunkie after his win over Ward. “There were some issues that happened; I’m not going to completely say it’s at fault. But at the same time, I’ve got to plan for things that are going to go wrong.”

To that end, Gonzalez, who also has two past positive drug tests for marijuana for Bellator fights in California, said he plans on logging his weight as he goes along so he can start to be in much closer range when he starts his cuts during training camp.

“I’m going to get down to 180, 185 (in camp) so these guys know that I’m serious about this,” Gonzalez said. “It’s the only thing that’s kind of hanging over me right now is that I can’t make the weight, or that I haven’t made that weight. So I’m going out there to prove that first.”

Bellator’s welterweight title picture is pretty stacked up top. Douglas Lima recaptured the title from Andrey Koreshkov nearly a year ago, then defended it against Lorenz Larkin in June. Rory MacDonald is presumed to be next in line after a big win over Paul Daley in his Belltor debut. Michael Page is out there. And Koreshkov got back in the mix with a first-round TKO of Chidi Njokuani in Bellator 182’s headliner.

So it’s not likely that Gonzalez gets a call asking him to fight Lima for the belt right away, though stranger things have happened. He said he plans on getting down to 170 so he can be ready if that time comes.

“If I get this title shot, I’ll make the weight, I’m going to get my belt, and I’m going to continue to make the weight till there’s nobody left and I can start challenging other organizations for their titles.”

For more from Gonzalez on his submission win over Ward, check out the video above.

And for more on Bellator 182, check out the MMA Events section of the site.