UFC Fight Night 127's Mark Godbeer wants to shut up trolls, fight Walt Harris again

LONDON – UFC heavyweight Mark Godbeer considers his matchup with Walt Harris cursed.

That said, he won’t mind if the UFC pairs them a third time.

“I’ve got a job to do this Saturday,” Godbeer (13-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie in advance of a fight with Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 127. “Let’s get this job out of the way. I believe (Harris is) matched. Maybe further down the line, there’s a score to be settled.”

Godbeer and Harris (10-7 MMA, 3-6 UFC) haven’t had good luck so far in deciding the better fighter. They were supposed to fight at UFC 216 before Harris was pulled at the last minute to face ex-champ Fabricio Werdum. Then a second fight at UFC 217 ended in controversy when Harris kneed Godbeer in the groin and landed an illegal head-kick, prompting the referee to disqualify him.

Rather than book the matchup a third time, the UFC decided to cut its losses and pair the two with other opponents. Harris is now scheduled to meet Daniel Spitz (6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 131 in June.

Godbeer, who faces short-notice replacement Sosnovskiy on the UFC Fight Pass-streamed prelims of Saturday’s event at The O2 in London, gets no satisfaction from his disqualification win. He wants to move on from that period in his career.

“There’s a part of me that says there’s something wrong with this fight,” Godbeer said. “Someone up there (said), ‘This fight doesn’t happen.’ There’s another big part of me that, when you get trolls calling you (expletive) and stuff like that … in the back of my head, it’s like, there’s still unfinished business with me and Walt.”

Godbeer said after the fight, Internet critics came out in force to question his courage and ridicule his injury. It’s those faceless voices he wants to silence.

“You can have the best performances, and you’re always going to get the trolls that turn around and say, ‘this was (expletive), that was (expletive), and you (expletive) out,'” he said. “But you know what, these guys haven’t taken head kicks off 250-pound guys.

“I was rocked. The doctors came in and looked at my eyes and said, ‘Listen, that was a blatant foul. We don’t think you should carry on.’ I didn’t think the fight was going to be a disqualification. I thought it was going to be put down to a no-contest. I don’t class it as a win. No fighter classes a disqualification as a win. It was just one of those jinx fights, from the off.”

Since signing with the UFC, Godbeer admits he’s had more than a few unexpected twists and turns in his octagon career. Even in the lead-up to Saturday’s event, his original opponent was forced out due to injury.

Hopefully, there won’t be any more surprises on fight night.

For more on UFC Fight Night 127, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.