UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Mandel Nallo isn’t going to be one of those fighters who try to excuse their way out of a low-blow finish.
Nallo (7-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) knew from the jump that he nailed Saad Awad good with a low knee in the opening round of their Bellator 249 main-card opener, and that it would likely be the end of the fight.
“I’m not going to be one of these weaselly guys who’s like ‘I just grazed him.’ Nallo told MMA Junkie after the fight. It was a big, hard knee, I was trying to knock him out with a knee to the liver, so I knew it was hard.”
Indeed, Awad couldn’t continue after the five-minute timeout, and the bout was ruled a no-contest at the 1:44 mark at Mohegan Sun Arena.
It marked the second straight odd finish for Nallo, who lost via a rare leg kick TKO to Killys Mota for his first career defeat last time out, leaving Nallo to simply think strange things are destined in this sport.
“As far as the low blow, that’s on me, you know?” Nallo said. “Crazy stuff happens, but we spoke about it before this fight, because my last fight, something crazy happened, and now another crazy thing happened, it just seems to be something that can happen in MMA. Unfortunately, this has happened in my past two fights, but before the low blow I felt pretty good, you know? Every year that goes by and I don’t fight, I’m working on stuff and I’m feeling good, but octagon time comes and you’re like is any of this stuff good or have I just been spinning my wheels?”
Nallo, who says he’s game to run things back with the veteran Awad, believes he was just getting started when the fight came to an unceremonious end. While the ending was a downer, he’s looking at it from the perspective that things could be worse.
“It’s a bummer, but if I got over the last one, you know, in a long MMA career crazy stuff is going to happen, so whatever, at least I didn’t get food poisoning two days before the fight that happens to guys, at least I didn’t have a 12-hour layover before. There’s a lot that can happen It’s tough, but I’m in one piece, so you can’t get all bruised up about something like that.”