Bullish on ‘The Bull’

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Bellator MMA middleweight champion Brandon Halsey hears the whispers: He is a one trick pony who leans to heavily on his wrestling base. Some have taken their criticism further, claiming he uses performance enhancers and pointing out that he has not been drug tested lately. To Halsey, however, all the whispers are, to quote Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

“The accusations have ticked me off a little bit and motivated me,” Halsey told Sherdog.com. “They haven’t really changed my attitude at all. The accusations are nothing new. It’s just another walk in the park for me. I’ve taken plenty of drug tests and passed them all.”

Halsey will defend his 185-pound title against “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner Kendall Grove in the Bellator 137 main event on Friday at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif. Grove has lobbed accusations at “The Bull,” who sees it as an attention grab on the Hawaiian’s part.

“I know he’s been talking, but it’s all business,” Halsey said. “I know he’s been throwing a lot of accusations out there to get attention, but I’m going to be overwhelming him. As long as I stay on my game plan, there’s not a lot he can do. It’s going to be a big wakeup call for me or him, but to me, the fact [that] he’s gone and accused me of using PEDs means he’s just trying to get attention. He can say what he wants to get attention, but he’s not going to beat me. To me, it’s a weird move. If he says what he does and then loses the fight, he’s not going to get anything out of it.”

Another subject that has Grove upset and chomping at the bit to take on Halsey: a perceived lack of respect for MMA veterans.

Related » Kendall Grove Still Has Plenty Left in the Tank

“It’s not a lack of respect,” Halsey said. “I know he has been in the game for a long time, and I respect that. However, I don’t feel like he’s on my level. That’s not disrespect. He wants to get a rise out of me, but it’s not going to happen. I don’t have to beat him up for five rounds to prove a point. I can do it for one round, finish the fight and make my point about being better than him. I don’t have any set game plan. I’m going to put pressure on him and impose my will. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Halsey, a product of the Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center in California, is making the first defense of the 185-pound title he took from Alexander Shlemenko with a first-round rear-naked choke at Bellator 126 in September. The submission -- which required just 35 seconds of Halsey’s time -- was the fourth of the 28-year-old’s career and marked his fourth first-round finish. Halsey earned his shot at the belt by winning the Bellator Season 10 middleweight tournament, tapping Brett Cooper with an armbar in a little more than two minutes at Bellator 122 in July. He now owns a 6-0 mark under the Bellator banner, including victories over Shlemenko, Cooper, Joe Pacheco and Hector Ramirez.

In Grove, Halsey faces a veteran of 36 career bouts. However, competing against a far-more-experienced opponent is nothing new for the champion, who met the venerable Shonie Carter in just his second professional appearance. Their bout -- which took place at a King of the Cage event in 2012 -- ended with Halsey earning a decision over a man with more than 80 fights under his belt.

“I hear about [the experience difference] every single fight,” said Halsey, an NCAA All-American wrestler at Cal State Bakersfield who has been fighting professionally for a little more than three years. “I’ve heard it all before, and the number of fights somebody has is just a number. My opponents may have experience on me, but each fight is different.”

Preparing to defend one’s title can be difficult in and of itself, but Halsey’s schedule has been doubly hectic, with his wife expecting a child this summer. Regardless of any outside distractions, he vowed to be ready come fight time.

“My wife is due July 2, so with the fight and the baby coming, things have been very exciting,” Halsey said. “When it comes to the fight, the hard part is by me. I’ve put in the work and the hours. The physical stuff is done, and now I’m just mentally prepping for the fight. I’m just making sure my weight’s on point and everything’s ready to go when the cage door shuts. Camp has been great. There’s been no injuries, and I’ve had a lot of good training partners.”

Should Halsey get past Grove, he indicated he would have an interest in moving up to 205 pounds to try and win a second Bellator championship. He has also expressed interest in facing recently signed Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Phil Davis, a man considered by most to be one of the world’s top 10 light heavyweights.

“My goal is to hold two belts,” said Halsey, who started his career at light heavyweight before downshifting to 185 pounds. “I want to do something nobody else has done before in Bellator, and that’s win the middleweight and light heavyweight titles. I started my career at 205, and I’m just as strong as those guys. I’m comfortable at 185, too. Even at middleweight, I’m big, strong and fast.”