Aaron Jeffery —who returns to action against John Salter at Bellator 293 tomorrow night (Fri., March 30, 2023) — feels like mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are the worst. Indeed, it is a love-hate relationship between fans and fighters (promoters, too). To quote numerous athletes: “The fans love you when you’re winning, but flip on you when you lose.”
For Jeffery — Bellator’s No. 7-ranked Middleweight — he felt that toxicity firsthand after his last technical knockout win, which took place at Bellator 284 in Aug. 2022. Jeffery picked up the biggest win of his career, finishing former 185-pound title challenger, Austin Vanderford, in less than two minutes.
While Jeffery got some praise for such a big win, he was also showered with, “Vanderford is a bum.”
Aaron Jeffery sleeps Austin Vanderford in the first round…on a weeks notice#Bellator284 pic.twitter.com/ITuRkpiEoj
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) August 13, 2022
“It is what it is, man,” Jeffery told MMAmania.com. “In MMA, like we’ve got the worst f—king fan base of any sport. People are so sh—ty, so you just gotta take it with a grain of salt….[Austin] is a f—king phenomenal fighter. He’s only got two losses to two pretty high-level guys. And everyone hates him because of who his girlfriend [Paige VanZant] is.
“I mean, it’s insulting to me, too,” Jeffery continued. “Everyone’s just like, ‘Yeah, this guy f—king sucks,’ and I’m like, well, years of my life have come to this moment to beat this guy, and it’s very important to me, you know? Everyone just saying he sucks — it’s disrespectful to both of us.”
The massive win over Vanderford vaulted Jeffery into the Top 10 and set him up for his next match against the No. 3-seeded Salter.
With a win over Salter, Jeffery thinks he will be fighting for a title by the end of 2023.
“If I beat John Salter, and they don’t give me the title shot right away, how many more are in front of me? I’d say one more,” Jeffery said. “[Fabian Edwards vs. Gegard Mousasi] is in the middle of the year, so I can get one more at the end of the year, and it’s gonna be a title fight.”
To check out the latest Bellator MMA-related news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive news archive right here.