Undefeated fighter Steve Kozola isn't wasting any time calling people out as he gets ready for his second run with Bellator.
The 27-year-old Illinois native will fight in his home state for the first time since 2014 when he competes at Bellator 175, and says he's looking forward to winning, then eventually moving on to recent signee Dillon Danis.
"I don’t want to look past March 31, but I would love to fight in London May 19 and go overseas and represent the United States of America. Then I want to welcome Dillon Danis to the 155-pound division if he can ever get here," Kozola told theScore.
Danis is a decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist who gained notoriety in 2016 due to his association with UFC superstar Conor McGregor. Though he has yet to compete in MMA, Danis is already claiming to be the highest-paid fighter on the Bellator roster.
That attitude rubs Kozola the wrong way, especially because he believes that Danis is being completely insincere.
"What really grinded my gears is when he started getting away from his authentic self," said Kozola. "He used to be a good, humble, disciplined, jiu-jitsu martial artist, then all of a sudden he starts hanging around Conor McGregor and then he's posting this crazy stuff on his social media talking crap about how he sells out this and how he makes all this.
"Dude, you don't do any of that, you've never sold out anything and the money that you make is what Conor gives you. And I just don't like how he's turning away from that martial arts and warrior ethos ... So for him to be taking shortcuts, not taking any lower-level promotion fights, and just jumping right to the main stage of Bellator, I think it's ridiculous."
Kozola speaks from experience. Prior to joining Bellator, Kozola went 4-0 on the regional scene, capped off by a ridiculous spinning back-elbow KO of Danny Morales:
That win led to him taking a pair of fights for Bellator that also ended in knockout victories. He also made one appearance for the World Series of Fighting promotion, recording another fast finish.
Along the way, Kozola picked up the nickname "Thunderbeast" after he and his friends joked about him finding a way to distinguish himself. He proposed the moniker during a road trip and it got a laugh, but Kozola wasn't taking it too seriously.
"I'm like, 'Oh God, what did I just do?' They proceeded to call me that the rest of the Vegas trip. I'm like, 'Ah, it'll die off.'"
The name took on a life of its own when his friend spoke to the in-house DJ ahead of one of his fights and told him to make sure to include it in Kozola's introduction. The rest is history.
"When he announced me as that I was like, 'What did I just hear?' And then I focused on the task at hand and I ended up winning that fight in just under a minute," said Kozola. "As I'm walking out, I see my friend Eddie grabbing his stomach and just laughing hysterically. He's like, 'Dude, you've got to keep it. You just won that fight in under a minute and you're 3-0.' So I decided to keep it."
Kozola will look to keep the thunder rolling when he fights Jake Roberts at Bellator 175 on Friday in Rosemont, Ill.
