Video: Massive weight cut over, Bellator 97's Keith Berry ready for next KO

When it comes to MMA, Bellator 97's Keith Berry likes to think he’s got things dialed in by now. After all, he said, he’s been fighting since age 15.

“It’s all I’ve ever done for work,” Berry told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

The day he gave the interview, which came on the same one as weigh-ins, Berry had 15 pounds to cut to make a 189-pound catchweight. Most fighters would cringe at that kind of drop, especially in a five-hour timeframe, but it was old hat to the veteran.

“It’s not as good, but definitely, this 15 is not a real 15,” Berry said. “I’ve been drinking a lot of water. I’ll be alright.”

MMA, of course, is not the kind of job you learn overnight. Berry’s record is pockmarked by losing skids, which, he said, were the result of being “mismanaged here and there.”

He also fought some tough regional talent, perhaps before he was ready.

But recently, Berry (15-10 MMA, 2-0 BMMA), who fights Jeremy Kimball (9-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) on the Spike.com-streamed preliminary card of tonight’s event, said he’s found his niche at Reign Training Center in Southern California.

There, he works with standouts Mark Munoz and Jake Ellenberger, who push him to shore up his weaknesses in wrestling.

However, when he fights Kimball tonight at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho,, N.M., he’ll be looking for the knockout. Although he’s added new skills, he’s taken an old mindset to fighting.

“Just having fun and going out there, and I just like to knock people out, or at least go for the knockout and put on a good fight,” Berry said.

The approach has paid off. He’s won his past four fights, including two under the Bellator banner.

“My last fight in Bellator, they gave me ‘Fight of the Night,’” Berry said. “I had a really good fight, and it was another guy’s hometown. So this time it’s the same thing. I’m going to pick my punches a little bit more, but I’m definitely coming to knock this guy out.”

Berry said he’s got fights planned for September, November and December, so fans could be seeing a lot more of his name this year.

This is, after all, what he’s been doing since he was a teenager. He’d like to see his efforts pay off in a big way.

“I’m really going to get my fights in this year, make that money, and do what I need to do,” Berry said.

For the latest on Bellator 97, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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