After spending a year away from fighting dealing with injury problems, light-heavyweight Liam McGeary returned to fighting last November in a losing effort against Phil Davis at Bellator 163.
McGeary believes that he tried too hard to come back after his injury and had a disappointing performance against Davis, which ultimately cost him his light-heavyweight title and was the first blemish on his professional record.
“I could have approached the fight a little different in my fight camp,” McGeary told MMAWeekly.com. “I shouldn’t have crammed in so much training sessions. I tried to fit in a lot of work in the space of 14 weeks, which is a really long time for a fight camp.
“I could have done a lot better. The next time I fight him it will be a lot different. I’m going to be fighting him the way I like to fight, instead of worrying about what he does.”
For his first fight of 2017, McGeary opted to have a quick turnaround to fight in Northern Ireland, which he feels will benefit him after having so much time off before his last bout.
“I didn’t want to be sitting around and loafing about it,” said McGeary. “As soon as there was a fight coming up, I was like, ‘Get me on it.’
“I missed out on the London one last time, and I wanted to fight on that side of the pond for once. I know what English fans and Irish fans are like. The atmosphere in the arena is going to be absolutely amazing.”
McGeary (11-1) was originally scheduled to take on Chris Fields on Friday, but now, due to injury, Vladimir Filipovic (8-2) steps into the 205-pound main event of Bellator 173 in Belfast.
“I was in that position once where they asked me if I’d fight some guy, and I would say yes, because you want to fight the best guys,” McGeary said. “I’m looking forward to putting on a show and ripping his head off.”
For McGeary, the goal in 2017 is simple: regain his Bellator light-heavyweight championship whenever the opportunity presents itself.
“My overall goal is to get my belt back,” said McGeary. “I don’t mind taking a couple of fights. I don’t think I’m going to get into title contention after this fight, the next one maybe, but let me deal with (this one) first, and then we’ll talk about the next one.”
