“Whenever you come from a small town like New Castle, you’re not supposed to make it and a lot of people hope that you don’t.” Dalton Rosta said.
MMA fighter Dalton “Hercules” Rosta will return to the MMA cage in front of a strident Irish crowd Saturday, set to reinsert himself in the win column. Rosta will go head-to-head with rising undefeated prospect Nobert Novenyi Jr. in a middleweight matchup at Bellator Champions Series: Dublin at noon Saturday on MAX.
Rosta will be returning to the cage after suffering his first loss in his professional career to Aaron Jeffery by unanimous decision in August at Bellator 298.
From fighting in small venues in Pittsburgh and Youngstown, to traveling across the world to perform on the global stage in Dublin, Rosta cannot believe how far his career has come.
“It’s crazy to think I was fighting in Yankee Lake in a ballroom. Rosta said. “I started out fighting in little churches in Youngstown, not the prettiest venues. People went to it thinking it was a circus sometimes. Gradually I saw an increase in the quality of the venues, but being able to fight for Bellator on the global stage itself is far beyond where I started out. I’m very grateful for the process and the opportunities, now I’m here.”
Rosta will be traveling more than 4,000 miles from home to continue to climb the competitive ladder as he attempts to give Novenyi Jr. his first loss of his career.
“Training has been good, every camp I have had has been good, but this one has been very good. We had about 10 weeks to get ready for this, and we took full advantage of it.” Rosta said.
During training, Rosta sparred with Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen and Ikram Aliskerov, who will be in the main event at UFC Fight Night against Robert Wittaker this Saturday.
Rosta’s trainer Anderson Franca spoke about how confident he is in Rosta and how his versatility will propel him to the win.
“I’m expecting a great victory.” Franca said. “I’m his striking coach, and he’s good everywhere. He’s great at wrestling, grappling and jujitsu. He’s a great overall talent.”
According to CBS Sports, Rosta is the fifth-ranked middleweight fighter in Bellator MMA. He has four knockouts in his career and is looking to add another.
“I’m always looking for the finish, but I need to get more reckless like I used to be.” Rosta said. “I’ve grown technically and strategically, but I think I’m going with a little bit of a mix of strategy and recklessness in this fight.”
Rosta made it clear he doesn’t want to give his game plan away against Novenyi.
“I want to keep him guessing. I can tell he’s a little bit nervous listening to a lot of the interviews he’s been doing.” Rosta said. “ I want to keep him on his toes. He doesn’t know what’s coming. He says he does, but he doesn’t. He is just talking. He doesn’t believe anything he’s saying.”
Rosta believes his best performance to date was his bout against Romero Cotton where he secured a knockout win. Rosta is looking to double his best performance Saturday.
“Going into the Romero Cotton fight I had a black eye and knocked him out, viral,” Rosta said. “You can see going into this fight I have a black eye as well. I think everything is pointing towards that direction in this fight.”
Rosta likes to block out the noise around him and focus on the main thing, stepping into the cage. Rosta said his motivation comes from his inner self. He isn’t someone who gets motivated from hate.
“I’ve always said that I don’t let outside factors motivate me. I always have my motivations set in place,” Rosta said. “If I let what other people’s opinions about me dictate how I’m going to train and how I feel, I wouldn’t be true to my true motivations and commitment.
“At the end of the day, someone else’s opinion, good or bad, isn’t going to influence me. I have my training and motivations set into place. They aren’t going to change regardless of what anybody else thinks.”
Amani Clark-Bey is a TribLive staff writer. You can reach Amani at aclark-bey@triblive.com.