"Irish" Brennan Ward (12-3) has fought all four of his last fights for Bellator MMA at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Now, after several years exclusively in the U.S., he will be making his way to Japan for the RIZIN Fighting Federation card (see it), which takes place on Dec. 31, 2015 at Saitama Super Arena in Chuo-Ku, Saitama City.
While the Waterford native loves fighting in his home state, he's been wanting to venture out for some time and compete on foreign soil, which he has only done a handful of times in the states and never abroad. Bellator -- as well as several other promotions -- are all working in conjunction with RIZIN Fighting Federation for the historical cards taking place in the "Land of the Rising Sun," and Ward said he's "stoked" to be a part of it.
"They [Bellator MMA] knew I've been wanting to get out of Connecticut," Ward told MMAmania.com. "I do my thing at Mohegan Sun. That's my home town. I put on good shows there. I sell a lot of tickets. I make them a fuck load of money. I told Rich [Chou], 'I want out.' I work off them and they work off of me."
The 27-year-old welterweight will be taking on Ken Hasegawa (10-0-1), a Japanese judoka, who has mostly fought at heavyweight throughout his career, in a 178-pound catchweight contest. Ward was actually unsure of the weight the fight would be at when the interview took place last week. "I thought it was at 187," he revealed. "Whatever it is."
Ward said he knows a little bit about his opponent, but is more focused on himself.
"I don't study a lot of tape," admitted Ward. "I don't ever go out and fight someone else's game. I watched a couple of his videos and it looks like he has some good takedowns. He is a good judo guy. I know he is not going to want to throw hands with me. I know that."
Ward said he was "surprised" to see Douglas Lima lose the Bellator MMA welterweight title to Andrei Koreshkov in a division that has become wide open since Ben Askren left for ONE Championship. "Irish" is confident after winning three straight fights since dropping down from middleweight to join the welterweight division. He knocked out Dennis Olson and Roger Carrol, and submitted Curtis Millender via rear-naked choke.
He views himself as one of the very best among the weight class.
"I'm definitely one of the top guys in the division," he said. "Some say I may be next for the title. I don't know how true that is. I gotta be top three, four or five. Definitely top five, 100 percent. Maybe top three. I know, obviously, Michael Page is really good. Chris Honeycutt is really good. Paul Bradley. We got tough guys. That's how it should be. You need depth. You need tough guys."
Although he's never been to Japan and never watched PRIDE, Ward said he's thrilled to be a part of the festivities on New Year's Eve.
"I'm excited. I'm pumped. I never seen Fedor fight either, so I'm excited for that too."