It’s all fun and games until someone gets their air supply cut off.
That’s what happened at Bellator 221 last weekend in Rosemont, Ill., when former WWE wrestler Jake Hager finished local warm body T.J. Jones on the DAZN main card, though Hager faced heavy criticism after the fight for what appeared to be a delay in releasing the choke hold.
“Tombstone” believes Hager was trying to hurt him as payback for all his pre-fight trash talk.
“When the ref goes to pull you off, let go,” Jones said. “I understand I talk a lot, and I understand the emotions can get kinda high, but you have to be professional. He tried to hurt me more. This sport’s dangerous. You gotta be smart, you gotta care about your opponent’s health. I care about his health, and you don’t want to see stuff like that.”
Hager, not surprisingly, tells a very different story. And while he admits to getting irritated by Jones, who used their high-profile fight to make a name for himself, the wrestler formally known as “Jack Swagger” insists the delay was not intentional.
Then again, neither was this.
“I would be lying if I said it didn’t get under my skin,” Hager said. “I don’t appreciate that, but in the end I’m a professional. It wasn’t on purpose. I legitimately thought that was him pushing on my arm, and I had specific instruction before in the locker room, from the referee who was a very large man, he told me he would get me off him.”
Hager, 37, improves to 2-0 with the win and is already looking to make his return to the cage this summer. The 29 year-old Jones (1-2), meanwhile, is expected to earn another fight for Bellator after doing the job just outside “The Windy City.”
For more results and highlights from Bellator 221 click here.