Bellator BW champ Caldwell: ‘The 145-pound belt will be mine’

Darrion Caldwell is hungry for another Bellator championship.

Darrion Caldwell might’ve just won the Bellator bantamweight title late last year, but he already has his eyes on a second belt.

“The Wolf” is headed up to 145 pounds, where he started his MMA career, to face Noad Lahat in a non-title bout in the Bellator 204 main event. The card takes place Friday night at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Caldwell isn’t returning to 145 pounds because cutting down to bantamweight was getting tougher and tougher, according to him. He just wants to be able to eventually call himself a two-division champion.

“It’s one reason and one reason only, and that’s to get the 145-pound belt,” Caldwell told BloodyElbow.com at Bellator 204 open workouts on Wednesday. “I started my career at 145, and when I started my career I had aspirations of being a champion — I wasn’t sure at what weight class. I finished my career at 145 at 5-0 before I went down to the 135-pound weight class. For me, it’s about going up and proving to myself that I’m just as good as these 145-pounders and could win a belt there. I wrestled 149 my whole college career. Being a 145-pound MMA fighter, where I get 24 hours to recover as opposed to two hours to recover, it’s night and day. I’m feeling good at 145.”

Caldwell wants to win two titles because he believes that is what will create his legacy. He’s not focused on breaking title-defense records, because that didn’t work too well for the only former flyweight champion the UFC’s ever known (who just happens to be one of the most talented fighters on the planet, too).

“I’m not gonna keep counting my title defenses. Winning solves everything — you win and you advance” Caldwell said. “For me, it’s not really about how many times I defend that belt, because we all see with Demetrious Johnson, it doesn’t really mean much. If he goes up to 135, then he becomes a lot bigger of a deal. I don’t think holding the belt consecutively really makes a difference in terms of legacy. I feel like being a champion in multiple divisions speaks volume.”

Caldwell isn’t done with 135 pounds forever, though. In a perfect world, he plans on winning the featherweight title, moving back and forth between the two divisions and defending both his titles.

“I know guys don’t want to fight me at 135 to become a champion, but in order to be a champion, you gotta beat the champion,” Caldwell said. “If you want to become a champion at 135, you gotta have to come beat me. I’m not vacating. I’m gonna be a two-division champion, holding the belt simultaneously. I’ll still defend at 135.”

James Gallagher, who also fights at Bellator 204, called his shot earlier this week. He wants to fight for the bantamweight title with a win on Friday, and he doesn’t care whether that’s against Caldwell or in a vacant title fight. That said, the Irishman personally believes Caldwell is moving up for good.

But Caldwell isn’t closing the door on a fight against Gallagher down the road.

“He might deserve a shot — it depends on how he wins, if he wins,” Caldwell said. “If he does get an opportunity to fight me, I say take it. I just don’t look at him as a problem. I’d like to fight him, eventually, because he brings that prestige, the international fan base.”

But the 21-year-old isn’t his focus. Right now, should he get past Lahat, the former college wrestler wants to fight the winner of featherweight champion Patricio Freire vs. Emmanuel Sanchez, which takes place in November.

Caldwell was seemingly OK with taking one non-title fight before fighting for a second belt, but he doesn’t plan on taking too many — if any — more. He said he has little to gain by fighting the “No. 7 featherweight” in Bellator, so if he won’t get a featherweight title shot sooner than later, he’ll just wait for the division to free up by defending his bantamweight title instead.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s ‘Pitbull’ or Emmanuel Sanchez — whoever’s got the belt, that’s what I’m coming for,” Caldwell said. “Obviously, ‘Pitbull’ has made it a thing about me and him, so if Emmanuel wins, I’m gonna go up there, get that belt at 145. ‘Pitbull,’ he’ll come down, because we’ve got some feud. He feels like his career at 145 is slowing down, he’s not really like he used to be, so he wants to try something new. ... It doesn’t really matter who it is, but the 145-pound belt will be mine.”