Galore ‘The Paranormal’ Bofando cut a memorable set of highlight clips during his whirlwind visit to the UFC. Now signed to Bellator Bofando is keen to keep his reputation for memorable performances firmly in people’s minds. As he prepares to meet Richard Kiely on Bellator London, which takes place on June 22 our conversation naturally starts with one of his most memorable finishes to date when he dealt with Charlie Ward in explosive fashion.
“We do drill those explosive techniques like you saw me demonstrate at London Shootfighters.” Galore said, ” It was no fluke, but in order to generate that much force you have to have it in you. There are things I’m capable of that I can’t even practice in the gym.”
Having observed Bofando from his early days on the UK MMA circuit it was clear he was just content to be taking part in a sport that he loves. Fast forward 10 years and it’s refreshing to see him mature as a fighter and also being focused on a clear path. “When it comes to combat everybody’s goal is to lift that strap,” he said. “I do though, want to have some fun whilst I accomplish that drawing on meditation and spirituality.”
The peaceful vibe of the interview is somewhat taken off at a tangent as we move our conversation onto the colorful description launched at him by his opponent Richard ‘The Face of Bellator’ Kiely. “I listen to the Eurobash Podcast,” he said referring to the excellent interview conducted by MMA Fighting’s Petesy Carroll. Continuing he said, “I heard what Keily had to say. One of the things I’ve learned about fighting is that from a distance things look entirely different than they do close up. He talked about me and my style and described it as ‘hitting and hoping’. This is a guy who clearly does not understand the logic behind my movement. We’ll see.”
“I’m that type of guy that the moment you start underestimating me I love that. The moment I hear that I’m there to test you out now! I’m there to test you on a different level just to see if what you say is true.”
“I never underestimate my opponent as you never know what is going to happen. At the same time I’m maintaining faith that my body will know exactly what to do when the time comes.
It’s rare these days to speak with fighters who spend time looking at the exploits of their opponents. It would seem Bofando has been sufficiently intrigued to find out a little more about ‘The face of Bellator’ Ultimately it would seem Bofando has been less than impressed. “I’ve checked out a couple of his fights to see why he sees himself as the face of Bellator. His style is not even a proper style in terms of technique. It seems he needs to hype himself up trying to be Conor McGregor. Do what makes you happy bro. It’s good to have self belief, but when that door closes truth is still truth whether you believe it or not.”
Keily has been firm in his belief that whilst the fight represents and exciting meeting of styles it will be over in one round. Galore laughs at hearing Keily’s words and offers,”I never predict fights, I’m going in there to enjoy myself and to test myself. As a result of that the beating he’ll receive is just a byproduct of me enjoying myself. If he thinks I’m just a generic fighter then he’s making a big mistake. I will be erasing the so called face of Bellator.”