Ryan Scope: ‘Lew Long is one fighter who I’d love to smash his head in’

Ryan ‘Big Baby’Scope (11-1) returns to action on Saturday 9th February in Newcastle in the main event slot against Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire (20-8) who returns to lightweight action. Additionally, undefeated star Aaron Chalmers (4-0), who calls Newcastle home, is scheduled to compete on the card in a co-main event lightweight bout when he takes on Corey Browning.

‘Pitbull’ represents a big step up in competition for Scope who has been away from the cage for a while. Dec 15th 2017 was the last time he competed where he notched up another win on his record against Mickael Lebout after coming off a loss to fellow Bellator signee Lewis ‘The Foot’ Long.

It would seem ‘Big Baby’ didn’t have to cry long and hard in order to get matched on signing with the promotion as he explains how the clash with ‘Pitbull’ came about. “I was looking for someone on that type of level, no one in particular but someone who was right up there,” he said. “I had no idea I’d get matched with someone so highly ranked as ‘Pitbull’, but I was really pleased and took it right away.”

Preparation has obviously factored into the run up to the showdown. The legendary ‘Violent Money’, a phrase coined by new Bellator signee Nathan Greyson, seems to have been bestowed upon Scope too.

“I’m doing mixed martial arts full time now. Signing to Bellator has enabled me to step away from working the doors part time and working in my friends factory. I’m fully committed to the sport now. The rumours are true you can become a full time fighter when you sign for Bellator.”

Since the match up was announced there does not seem to be any back and forth exchanges between ‘Pitbull’ and ‘Big Baby’. In fact it would appear that Freire has his attention firmly fixed on Bellator’s Michael Chandler.

“It’s a good thing that he’s overlooking me,” He said. “When he gets in there with me he’s gonna get a shock. All the guys that I train with know what I’m capable of and I think with this fight I’m gonna be able to show off all my skills.”

Scope is keen to draw parallels between his upcoming fight and the unpredictable outcome of the fight that went down between Kent Kauppinen and Alessio Sakara where Kauppinen left Sakara’s consciousness somewhere near Wakanda.

“That fight shows you we are just as good as those who have been on a bigger platform for longer. I’m more than capable of stopping anyone at lightweight. I’ve been to America and trained with world champions so I’m pretty confident going into this.”

With fellow Brit Lew Long, the only person to have handed him a loss thus far in his career, also on the card one would think that he would be a distant memory in the rear view of Scope’s career. It’s at this point in our conversation Scope becomes very animated. Laughing he said, “Lew Long is one fighter who I’d love to smash his head in.” Chuckling he continues, “He’s gonna get beaten by Judo Jimmy Wallhead and I’m gonna beat ‘Pitbull’ then I’ll be light years ahead of him. Lew Long will be irrelevant. He can still catch these hands, even if I see him in person he can still get it”

Updated Bellator Newcastle: Pitbull vs. Scope Fight Card:

Main Card

Lightweight Main Event: Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (17-4) vs. Ryan Scope (11-1)

Lightweight Co-main Event: Aaron Chalmers (4-0) vs. TBD

Lightweight bout: Terry Brazier (10-1) vs. Chris Bungard (13-4)

Middleweight bout: Fabian Edwards (5-0) vs. Lee Chadwick (24-13-1)

Prelims

Light heavyweight bout: James Mulheron (11-2) vs. Arunas Andriuskevicus (14-4)

Welterweight bout: Jim Wallhead (29-11) vs. Lewis Long (16-5)

Bantamweight bout: Cal Ellenor (7-2) vs. Nathan Greyson (6-2)

Welterweight bout: Ashley Reece (6-1) vs. John Ross (1-0)

Featherweight bout: Dominique Wooding (5-2) vs. Bailey Gilbert (0-1)

Featherweight bout: Nathan Rose (6-1) vs. Ranjeet Baria (3-0)

Heavyweight bout: Darren Towler (10-8) vs. Karl Etherington (14-3)

Heavyweight bout: Paul Elliott (2-0) vs. Mindaugas Gerve (3-2)

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