Bellator heavyweight Eric ‘The American Soldier’ Prindle (7-1, 1NC) was declared the winner of the Season Five tournament, earning the $100,000 contract and title shot with champ Cole Konrad after opponent Thiago ‘Big Monster’ Santos failed to make weight.
Santos hit the scales just shy of twelve-pounds overweight for their rematch, which had already been delayed by one week from Bellator 61 to Bellator 62, after Prindle came down with “flu-like” symptoms and with Santos reportedly even more overweight.
For Prindle, it’s a “bittersweet moment” for the former American soldier who trained hard for several months for the expected rematch after their first meeting ended in a “No Contest” due to a low blow. He says he even feels “disrespected” by his opponent for failing to make weight.
“He kind of disrespected me. Obviously he hasn’t been training to make weight so he kinda looked past me which bit him in the butt. It really upset me because I trained hard as hell and wanted to use the stuff that Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett at CSW taught me. I’m an MMA fighter, a professional, and I want to be able to fight if a fight’s set up. The yo-yo effect on my emotions bothered me. (Winning the tournament)’s a bittersweet moment, and I don’t want to say I didn’t earn it, but the fight is the fun part. I did all the work and everything and I was ready to go but Santos disrespected me and Bellator.”
Prindle was spoke to Mauro Ranallo on “The MMA Show” on Friday 23 March 2012, which also included guests Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith, media personalities John Morgan and Mike Chiappetta, Topps trading cards rep Jeremy Fullerton, as well as couple of other guests.