‘Pikeman’ makes a huge statement
RIAN ‘The Pikeman’ Moore took his record to 10-5 recently, totally dismantling Czech up-and-comer Michal Horejsi on the preliminary card of Bellator 177 in Budapest, Hungary. ‘It’s huge,’ said Moore, on his first win for the world’s second-largest MMA promotion. ‘I wanted to make a statement to the Bellator brass and show people that I belong in there. I wanted to put on as dominant a display as I possibly could and that’s what I did.
‘I wanted to show the level I’m at, number one, and I wanted to show I’m a fans’ favourite, number two, and I got to do both of those. To get the first win under my belt with Bellator is huge, so it’s only onwards and upwards from here.’
It was such a dominant performance from ‘The Pikeman’ that the judges had him well ahead after the first round. He was able to put his opponent away in the second with a flurry of elbows to bring his winning record into double-digits.
‘If you look at the judges who scored the first round, all three judges scored it 10-8, which would be very rare. A 10-8 round means a complete shutdown, a completely one-sided affair, it’s rare that all three judges would give it 10-8, but they did.’
Moore continued: ‘The first round was dominant and I got the finish in the second round. He was very tough, he did enough to survive the first but it was the beginning of the end after the first few seconds’.
It was only the second Bellator bout for the Carrig-on-Bannowbased fighter, owner of Moore Fitness Wexford. His previous encounter, against the experienced German Daniel Weichel, ended in defeat but ‘The Pikeman’ was able to pick out the positives and learn from the negatives.
‘I did a lot of good things in the Daniel fight,’ explained Moore. ‘I’ve worked diligently on the mistakes that I made and I was able to dominate my last fight, both in the grappling and striking, I learned from the mistakes I made.’
‘He’s ranked ahead of most UFC featherweights, he’s very, very experienced, but from being in there with him, and seeing the level that he’s at, I feel that if I had a good camp and it wasn’t on short notice, that I could beat Daniel and I think our paths will cross again and I’ll beat him in the re-match.’
What exactly is next for the Wexford man is still to be decided. His coach and manager, John Kavanagh of Straight Blast Gym, best known for his work with Conor McGregor, is working on securing a Bellator contract and another step-up for Moore. The fighter himself has simple enough goals.
‘My main aim is to be the best I can possibly be, I’ll get to do that with Bellator I’m sure, they have such a highly stacked roster of fantastic fighters. In a year or year and a half’s time, I think I’ll be top of that pile and be the first-ever Irish Bellator champion, that’s my goal right now.’